YouTube has been a part of childhood for years. Whether it’s educational tutorials or entertaining clips, millions of kids around the world treat it like a daily companion. It’s preinstalled on almost every smartphone, tablet, and smart TV, and provides endless videos, both helpful and distracting.

But as parents, it’s natural to ask, can you control what your child watches? Can you block unwanted channels or even side-step addictive formats like YouTube Shorts? The good news is yes but only with the right tools and settings. 

Why YouTube Matters and Why It Can Be a Concern

YouTube is a great resource for learning from science lessons to language practice and creative hobbies. However, it also promotes addictive scrolling and content that isn’t always age-appropriate, even when it looks kid-friendly at first glance. Parents often find themselves in a “whack-a-mole” situation, blocking one thing only for another troubling video to pop up next.

That’s why parental controls aren’t just about blocking, they’re about guiding how children experience YouTube.

Blocking YouTube Channels: What’s Possible

Supervised Accounts & YouTube Kids

The simplest way to block channels entirely is through YouTube’s parental systems:

  • YouTube Kids App (for younger kids): You can block specific channels right inside the app. Just open a video from the channel you don’t want your child to see, tap the three dots, and choose “Block this channel.” You can also unblock them from the app’s settings later. 

  • Supervised Accounts (for older kids/teens): linked to your Google account, this lets you control what channels they can watch and even block specific channels across their supervised YouTube experience. 

Without these supervised environments, YouTube doesn’t offer a built-in “block channel forever” button on the regular app. You can tell YouTube to “see less of this channel,” but that doesn’t fully block all appearances or search results. 

Blocking YouTube Shorts

Shorts are the vertical videos that play one after the other and the most addictive feature of YouTube. And until recently, there was no easy off-switch for kids.

But 2026 brought a major update:

With YouTube’s Family Centre, you can now set a daily time limit for Shorts including choosing 0 minutes, which effectively blocks shorts entirely for your child’s supervised account. 

Here’s how it works:

  1. Open the YouTube app, signed into your linked parent account

  2. Tap You (bottom right)

  3. Tap Settings > Family Centre

  4. Select your child's profile

  5. Tap Time Management

  6. Set the daily Shorts feed limit

This is one of the first times YouTube has allowed parents to target a specific format of viewing, not just overall screen time but recognising how harmful autoplayer short-video formats can be for kids. 

Other Useful YouTube Controls

Besides channel blocking and Shorts limits, YouTube offers additional settings to make watching safer and more purposeful:

Restricted Mode

This is a toggle in the YouTube app that helps filter out mature content flagged by users and AI. It’s not perfect, but it’s a useful extra layer. (Mobicip)

Screen Time Limits

You can set overall time limits on YouTube using Family Link, giving kids a daily cap on total watching, not just Shorts. (StreamSafe Kids)

Approved Content Only

In the YouTube Kids app, you can even choose a mode where your child only sees videos and channels you approve, a curated and controlled experience. 

Final Takeaway

Yes, you can block YouTube channels and Shorts for kids, but the amount of control depends on how you set it up:

  • Without supervision controls, YouTube itself doesn’t simply let you block anything forever.

  • With YouTube Kids or Supervised Accounts and Google Family Link, you can block channels and entire Shorts feeds and tailor your child’s content and screen time.

  • These tools are about digital guidance, not total censorship, helping kids enjoy YouTube safely and meaningfully, not just hiding screens. 

But the internet is not just YouTube and we need something big that can filter the internet 24/7 so that our kids are safe online.

Happinetz - The Parental Control Filter Box

Happinetz is a Parental Control Internet Filter. It ensures a safe internet experience for kids at home. The device connects to your home router and creates a separate Wi-Fi network, ensuring no impact on your main network or directly connected devices. 

You can control the internet in the following ways:

Filtering the internet

Filtering is the process of screening or limiting inappropriate internet. The Happinetz System filters websites and apps by categorising and grouping them under 15 categories. By default, adult and unsecured websites and apps are blocked.

Set schedules via a personalised screen time manager

Our system enables you to set internet access limits for your child by customising their online schedule according to your preferences.

Get internet usage insights

Insights provide an overview of your child's internet activities. You can get usage by device or content type.

Plug the Happinetz Box to your home router and download the Happinetz app. You are now ready to manage internet screen time, filter out age-appropriate content and get insights into your kid’s internet activity onboth WiFi and 4G/5G

YoutTube resticted - always ON on Happinetz

This means 16+ content will not visible, searchable, and openbale and comments section will be hidden.

FAQs

  1. What types of screen time can Happinetz manage?

Happinetz can manage online screen time for any Internet-connected devices on your home network once Happinetz Box is connected to your router. The screen management can be deployed across different kinds of devices like laptops, smart TV, tablets, phones, etc. connected to the Happinetz WiFi.

Screen time can be monitored via the Happinetz app, which is to be downloaded only on the parent's phone.

  1. Does Happinetz show what websites are visited?

Under Insights in the Happinetz app, you can see internet usage broken down by Overall, Category, and Device. A list of websites accessed is available under the History tab on the app.

  1. What's the difference between Happinetz and other solutions?

Happinetz is the most comprehensive solution for families looking to manage screen time and content on all devices, including iOS and Android.

With our Box, you can manage all your Happinetz WiFi-connected devices, at home and away, from one app. We offer customizable features so you can set limits and manage content across an unlimited number of devices, from computers to smartphones to smart TVs.

Unlike other solutions, Happinetz App needs to be downloaded only on the parent's phone. Installing anything on the children's devices is not required. Check comparison


 

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