The following are the strategies I’ve used for using Youtube mindfully:
Turn off google history
You should do this right now. By turning this setting off, you stop getting endless video feeds in the homepage, you remove Youtube Shorts from your life and you deactivate algorithmic suggestions in your account. Isn’t that great?
You also reduce the amount of data Google is harvesting from you.
Turn off google history in your google profile settings, just do it.
Browser Extensions
I used to have UnTrap for Youtube. It removes some website features and other distractions like Shorts.
It made the experience very boring, which was great, but I’ve stopped using the youtube website since then since I subscribe to channels using their RSS Feed.
Declutter subscriptions
Declutter your subscriptions. Think about which channels add value to your life and which ones distract you, trigger you or are just time wasters.
Deleted phone app
The phone app is just an addictive slot machine. We’ve all opened it just to know if a new video is up, but for that I recommend an RSS reader. Also, you can just use the web app on your browser just as well, and it will be way less distracting.