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Short-form video (YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, TikTok) is engineered for infinite scrolling. Here’s how to block it selectively.

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Block YouTube Shorts Only

You can block Shorts while keeping regular YouTube videos, search, and channels accessible.
  1. Add a Plan → choose Stay Focused → Block Some Websites
  2. Add this URL: youtube.com/shorts
  3. This blocks the Shorts feed and individual Shorts, but allows everything else on YouTube
FocusMe matches URLs by substring, so youtube.com/shorts catches both youtube.com/shorts (the feed) and youtube.com/shorts/abc123 (individual videos).

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Block the Shorts Shelf on the Homepage

YouTube also shows Shorts on the main homepage and in search results. To catch these, add a title-based entry:
  1. Add a website entry with Title matching: Shorts
  2. This blocks any browser tab that has “Shorts” in the title
Title matching is broad — make sure “Shorts” doesn’t appear in other window titles you need. If it does, use the more specific URL approach.

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Block All Short-Form Video

To block Shorts, Reels, and TikTok in one plan:
PlatformURL to Block
YouTube Shortsyoutube.com/shorts
Instagram Reelsinstagram.com/reels
TikTok (entire site)tiktok.com
Facebook Reelsfacebook.com/reel
Add all of these to a single plan for comprehensive short-form video blocking.

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Using RegEx for Broader Matching

For advanced users, a single RegEx entry can catch multiple short-form video patterns: 
(youtube\.com/shorts|instagram\.com/reels|facebook\.com/reel|tiktok\.com)
Check the RegEx box on the entry for this to work. Learn more about RegEx →