Whether you need to block YouTube on your Google Chromebook for your own good (to stop you from procrastinating, say), or to benefit a younger user – perhaps your child, who is too young to access its content, or should be doing their homework – blocking the YouTube website is a simple process.
To do so, simply follow our tutorial below, or check out the FAQs at the bottom of the page for further insights.
Table of Contents
How to block YouTube on a Google Chromebook using Chrome extensions
- Open up the Google Chrome app on your Chromebook, and if prompted, sign-in to your Google Account
- Navigate to the Google Chrome Webstore via your Menu’s settings, or by searching for the website in your search engine
- When in the Webstore, in the search bar, type ‘Site Blocker’
- Your search will generate myriad results which offer essentially the same function: the ability to choose which sites to block on your Chromebook. We recommend taking a moment to find the one which gives you the best functionality, and is rated reliably.
- Once you’ve decided upon your Site Blocker extension, click the blue ‘Add to Chrome’ button, and wait for it to finish installing (you may have to confirm installation by clicking ‘Install extension’ in a pop-up box).
- Now, access the extension by either clicking the puzzle-piece-shaped Extensions icon, or navigating thusly: Menu > More tools > Extensions
- Open up your newly installed Site Blocker extension
- Once opened, you should be faced with the choice to add sites to a list of blocked websites. To block YouTube, simply type in “www.youtube.com” and click ‘Add’
- YouTube has now successfully been added to your new Site Blocker extension’s list of blocked websites.
- To further secure this decision, we recommend adding password protection to your blocker extension, which you should be able to do quite easily from within the extension.
Note: Most site blocker extensions give the user even more control, allowing them to block certain sites only at certain times – ideal if you simply want to stop your child using YouTube on your Google Chromebook between 6-8pm, say. Have a play around with the various functions and settings of your new extension, until you have prohibited access to YouTube in the manner which best suits your needs.
And there you have it! As simple as following the above 10 steps, you can ensure that YouTube is appropriately blocked from use on your Google Chromebook. See the FAQs below for further detail.
Frequently asked questions
What is YouTube?
YouTube is the world’s leading video streaming platform. With around 30 million+ unique daily users, and seemingly limitless content, it is almost everyone’s go-to when they want to find, upload, share, or rediscover a video. YouTube plays host to full movies, creator content, short sketches, news, documentaries, funny clips, home footage, advertisements, and so much more. So much more, in fact, that there is doubtlessly content on YouTube (despite YouTube’s stringent regulations) which one might find inappropriate, based on one’s own tastes or age-range.
Why would I want/need to block YouTube?
One of the most frequently stated reasons for wanting to block YouTube on a Google Chromebook is that your child, or younger relation may use your Chromebook, and you don’t want them to have access to YouTube, for fear that they will then access and watch content which is inappropriate for them. YouTube does enable Age Verification checks on videos with age-specific content, but this does not cover all bases. Alternatively, you may wish to block YouTube, not for its content, but for the fact that it can serve as a distraction, either to yourself or another user of your Google Chromebook – again, perhaps a child who uses the Chromebook to do their homework.
How can I ensure that blocking YouTube can’t be circumvented?
Most blocking extensions (which, as you’ll have read above, is how we recommend blocking YouTube on a Google Chromebook) have in-built options to doubly secure the blocking of sites by enabling password protection of the extension. Given children are increasingly tech-savvy with each new generation, many will know how to turn blocker extensions on and off at leisure. In order to prevent this happening, we recommend locking the extension with a password which only you know.
Does this method work for blocking other sites, too?
Yes, you can block any number of unwanted sites from being accessed all by using the same blocker extension. Note that Google Chrome’s in-built SafeSearch software can also be used to block 18+ content from being accessed. However, given that YouTube by default is not 18+, using SafeSearch only will not fully block YouTube. We therefore recommend you use it in conjunction with a site blocker extension.
