Best Chrome Extensions for Reducing Screen Time

The best way to cut screen time in Chrome is to limit the few sites that eat your hours, not the whole browser. Your phone or computer may already have the tools. Extensions add more control on the desktop.

Start with what's built in

• Android: Digital Wellbeing can show the sites you use in Chrome and set a daily timer for a site. When the time runs out, the site is paused until tomorrow.
• Mac and iPhone: Screen Time can put a daily limit on the Chrome app as a whole. Its website limits are built around Safari, so they may not catch sites you open in Chrome.
• Windows: Microsoft Family Safety sets app time limits, including for Chrome, on child accounts.
• Chromebook: Google Family Link sets screen time limits and site restrictions for supervised accounts.

Extensions that limit or block sites

For per-site limits on a desktop computer, extensions are the most flexible option. Popular choices:

• LeechBlock NG: free and open source. Block sites during set hours, after a daily time limit, or both, with an optional delay before a blocked site opens.
• StayFocusd: gives you a daily allowance of time on the sites you choose. Once it's used up, they're blocked for the rest of the day.
• BlockSite: block lists and scheduled focus times, with a mobile app too.

Before installing any of them, check the permissions it asks for and recent reviews. A site blocker needs to see the sites you visit to work, so pick one you trust.

Make the limits stick

• Limit the worst one or two sites first. Blocking everything usually ends with the blocker being switched off.
• Add friction, not just walls. A short delay or a "do you really want this?" page is often enough to break the habit of opening a site without thinking.
• Remove the shortcuts. Delete bookmarks and home-screen shortcuts to time-sink sites, and sign out of them so getting in takes effort.
• Turn off notifications for sites under Settings → Privacy and security → Site settings → Notifications.
• Check your actual time. Digital Wellbeing or Screen Time shows where the hours go. The answer is often one or two sites.

When you are on screen, go easy on your eyes

Cutting time is the main thing. For the hours you do spend, take regular breaks (look at something far away every 20 minutes) and keep the screen's brightness close to the room's. In the evening, warmer colors from Night Light on Windows, Night Shift on Mac, or a browser filter like Blue Light Filter make late screen time more comfortable. They won't reduce your screen time, but they make the screen easier on the eyes at night.