How to block YouTube (and keep your lectures)

By Sameed Ahmad, who builds Focus AI (so read the Focus AI parts with that in mind).
Updated October 2026

YouTube is the hardest site to block honestly, because sometimes you need it. The trap is rarely the video you searched for. It's the sidebar, the autoplay queue and the Shorts shelf that come after it.

1. Block all of YouTube on Chrome with an extension

1. Install a website blocker from the Chrome Web Store (BlockSite, LeechBlock NG and StayFocusd are common).
2. Add youtube.com to its block list. Most blockers cover www and m. automatically.
3. Open chrome://extensions, click Details on the blocker and turn on Allow in Incognito.

Good for: you never need YouTube during work. Gives up: it blocks lectures, tutorials and videos embedded in your course site, and turning the extension off takes two clicks.

2. Block YouTube on a laptop or PC without an extension

Add these lines to your computer's hosts file (Notepad as administrator on Windows, sudo nano /etc/hosts on a Mac): 127.0.0.1 youtube.com, 127.0.0.1 www.youtube.com, 127.0.0.1 m.youtube.com and 127.0.0.1 youtu.be. Restart Chrome. It blocks YouTube in every browser on that computer. Step-by-step hosts file instructions.

Good for: a permanent, free block. Gives up: it's all or nothing, and the same one-minute edit undoes it.

3. Block YouTube on a Chromebook

On a personal Chromebook, Chrome extensions install exactly as on a laptop, so method 1 works. On a school-managed Chromebook the school controls extensions and blocked sites. For a child's Chromebook, Google Family Link lets a parent block YouTube from their own phone.

4. Block only YouTube Shorts and recommendations (free)

Filter extensions such as Unhook remove the home feed, recommendations, autoplay, comments and Shorts. The video you open plays normally; the sidebar that pulls you away is gone. More on blocking Shorts.

Good for: people whose problem is autoplay and the sidebar. Gives up: the search bar still works, so when the urge is strong you type the rabbit hole in yourself, and the filter is one click from off.

5. Block YouTube but keep your lectures

This is the version most students actually need. Three ways, from free to strict:

Queue the lectures first, then block everything (free)

Put tonight's lectures in a playlist or download them where your course allows, then block YouTube completely. Works for fixed course material; the moment you need a video you didn't plan for, you're back to unblocking the whole site.

Allowlist specific channels or playlists (free, fiddly)

Rule-based blockers such as LeechBlock NG can block youtube.com while allowing URL patterns, like one playlist or your professor's channel. Fine for one course with one source; real studying pulls from many channels, and every new one means editing rules mid-session.

Block by task, not by site

This is what I built Focus AI for, so weigh it accordingly. You type what you're studying and pick a session length. Every page is judged against that task: the SN2 lecture loads, the recommended video essay doesn't, Shorts don't. There is no list to maintain, so there's nothing to unblock when you need a new source. Strict mode is on by default: ending a session early means typing a sentence, and the extensions page is blocked while you're locked in.

Gives up: it costs money after 3 free sessions, it occasionally misjudges a page (a 3-minute Quick Check covers that), and it works in the browser only, not on your phone. Add Focus AI to Chrome.

Which one should you use?

• You never need YouTube for work: an extension or the hosts file (methods 1 and 2).
• Autoplay and Shorts are the problem: a filter extension (method 4). Free, and it may be enough.
• You study from YouTube and keep unblocking it, or you type the rabbit hole in yourself: block by task.
• The problem is your phone: none of these help there; use Screen Time or Digital Wellbeing, or see the blocker comparison.