Intentional YouTube

A reflective interface design tool to help users regain intentional control over digital media consumption.

Deliberate YouTube – Stay Intentional on YouTube A free Chrome extension for people who want to spend less time mindlessly scrolling on YouTube without blocking YouTube entirely. Deliberate YouTube helps you: • Set an intention before opening YouTube • See whether your behavior matches that intention • Get gentle reflection prompts when you start drifting • Hide Shorts, recommendations, thumbnails, or autoplay • Review your YouTube habits in a personal dashboard Not a traditional YouTube blocker Most blockers solve excessive YouTube use by restricting access. Deliberate YouTube takes a different approach: it helps you notice how you’re using YouTube so you can decide what to do about it. Choose an intention such as: • Find a specific video • Learn something • Explore a topic • Relax or be entertained • Set your own goal The extension then looks at your behavior during the session. Purposefully searching for something is different from repeatedly jumping between recommendations, and your alignment score reflects that. Reflection prompts If your behavior starts drifting from your intention—or you reach a customizable time interval—the extension can pause and ask you to reflect before continuing. You can adjust how often these prompts appear. Customize YouTube Use only the features you want: • Hide recommendations • Hide Shorts • Disable autoplay • Blur thumbnails • Multiple intention modes • Custom reflection intervals • And more Review your habits The built-in dashboard lets you look back at your sessions, chosen intentions, and reflections to better understand how you’re spending your time on YouTube. The goal isn’t to make you stop using YouTube. It’s to make using it a choice again. Privacy Your data stays on your device. Deliberate YouTube does not sell your data or upload your browsing history to external servers. Feedback Deliberate YouTube is still actively improving. If you find a bug or have an idea for the extension, feedback is appreciated. Both forms are optional, and no email addresses are collected. Bug Report: https://forms.gle/zcvSdW9Nsro6KaNM7 Feedback/Study: https://forms.gle/ic6e4a3398jcTZg89