Is your YouTube recommendation system feeling a bit… stuck? I totally get it; I’ve been through this myself—constantly getting suggestions for stuff I’m actually trying to avoid thinking about. It’s so simple to tap on them, reinforcing to YouTube that these topics interest me, leading to even more similar recommendations popping up. This creates a never-ending loop. Therefore, if you wish to break free from […]
Is your YouTube recommendation system feeling a bit stuck? I totally get it—I’ve found myself in this situation before, where suggestions pop up for stuff I’d rather not dwell on. The temptation to tap those videos is hard to resist, but doing so signals to YouTube that these topics interest me, leading to even more similar content appearing. It becomes quite a loop.
That’s why, if your aim is to
halt YouTube from gobbling up your time
, you need to gain mastery over the algorithm. We’ve discussed ways to handle this.
reset the Instagram algorithm
Here’s how you can achieve this using YouTube.
Remove all entries from your YouTube watch history.
To begin, go to
myactivity.google.com
From this point, you have the option to remove anything you’ve interacted with across Google’s services—including search history, browsing activity from Chrome, locations tracked via Google Maps on your device, as well as all the YouTube videos you’ve viewed.
You can narrow down the view to display just your YouTube videos by clicking.
YouTube History
then clicking
Manager History
From this point, you can manually remove any videos that you prefer not to impact your YouTube recommendation system—similar instructions were provided in our piece about it.
How to locate, modify, and erase your YouTube viewing history
Anything you remove will cease influencing your YouTube recommendations. Additionally, there is a search feature available, allowing you to narrow down to videos that discuss specific subjects. This is particularly useful if you wish to precisely control which topics no longer appear in your feed; simply perform a search and eliminate the videos you’re no longer interested in.
You can also delete
everything
, thereby entirely resettings your YouTube algorithm. To accomplish this, click the
Delete
button, then click
Delete all time
.
You’ll be prompted to confirm, following which your entire YouTube viewing history will be erased. When you return to YouTube, you’ll notice that the homepage doesn’t display any videos. If you want to find something to watch, you’ll need to utilize the search function or navigate to the subscriptions tab instead.
As you view videos, your homepage will refresh. Keep in mind that your recommendations can still be influenced by your subscriptions, browsing history on Chrome, and any additional data Google retains about you.
If you’d rather keep your YouTube homepage empty, that can be done: simply go back to
myactivity.google.com
From this point, you have the option to disable your entire YouTube viewing history.
If you do this, YouTube will cease recording the videos you’ve viewed moving ahead, and provided you’re logged into your Google account, YouTube’s homepage will stay empty.
Freetube completely prevents Google from monitoring you.
Looking to completely bypass Google’s tracking? Consider this alternative approach.
Freetube
, a free and open-source application designed with privacy in mind. This software supports Linux, macOS, and Windows operating systems. It keeps your viewing history stored locally on your device rather than in the cloud, ensuring that you maintain control over your data without sharing it with companies like Google.
However, there is a possible drawback: Freetube does not include advertisements. If you prefer seeing ads repeatedly in each video you watch, then Freetube might not be for you. On a more serious note, this platform offers several excellent features such as disabling comments and completely removing suggested content. Do consider checking it out.
our complete article on Freetube
for more information.
