Start using YouTube in a healthier way

Tips to ensure that YouTube is better aligned with your interests, and better respects your privacy.
YouTube does not let you control what content gets recommended to you. This is not a bug, it's a feature. Nevertheless, a few simple tips can help you align your YouTube experience with your interests, and enhance your privacy.
  • 2 minutes

    Update your subscription/notification settings here

    Unfollow channels that are not a good use of your time, and enable the bell, to alert you to videos from your favorite channels.

    Why

    YouTube’s recommendation system is optimized for engagement; it wants to maximize the time you spend on the platform, rather than choosing content that aligns with your interests on a particular day. Although it does not allow you to customize your recommendations, you can manage your subscriptions to be alerted to content from your favorite channels. Don't forget to put on the bell on your favorite channels. If not, YouTube might decide not to recommend them to you.

  • 5 minutes

    Pause Your YouTube History and Control Your Privacy here.

    This YouTube setting is available on your Google account.

    Why

    This general Google dashboard displays all the data that Google has on you. In this dashboard, we recommend that you pause your YouTube history. By doing so, the YouTube recommendations that you are shown will be based more on your subscriptions, and less on your watch history. YouTube will therefore show you more content that you really want to see, rather than content that simply keeps you on the platform longest, watching ads.

  • 10 seconds

    Turn autoplay off & on as shown here:

    When one video comes to an end, this will prevent YouTube’s watch next recommendation from playing automatically.

    Why

    Particularly if you are coming to YouTube with a purpose in mind, or if you frequently find yourself watching content you did not mean to watch: turn off autoplay. This can easily be enabled again.

    Turn autoplay off