Kids and YouTube

There are many questions about parenting in 2022. Questions that would not, did not, and could not come up when I was growing up in 1984. That being said, things change and evolve and we must as well. Parenting in a digital age is challenging. How can we best navigate this uncharted territory with our kids, keep them engaged and most importantly, keep them safe? This week, we will focus specifically on kids and YouTube. Our target question will be, Is YouTube safe for kids?

The big question about kids and YouTube

It really all boils down to one major question for parents, Is YouTube safe for kids? This is a tough one because Google created an entire YouTube channel that is labeled as being FOR KIDS. We know that just because something is available to us doesn’t guarantee it is safe to consume. In the case of kids and YouTube, digital content is still a consumable product. So, we want to approach it with caution and a keen eye towards navigating it appropriately. Full disclosure, my 7 year old son was recently introduced to YouTube. It’s got a hold on him, let me tell you. So, this is all coming from personal experience of parenting deep in the trenches of the digital age, ya’ll. Join me, if you will.

If you have stumbled across this blog, you are likely at least AWARE of what YouTube is. If you are not, then the basic gist of it is that YouTube is a free digital sharing site. It was originally created in 2005 and offers videos on nearly everything under the sun. You can watch everything from the inauguration of President Barack Obama to videos of cats being scared by cucumbers. Cats vs. cucumbers is a real treat. I don’t even like cats all that much. YouTube Kids is a specific channel geared towards curating content for kids. Ideally, YouTube Kids offers appealing and engaging content for kids while filtering out adult content. Sounds great, right? As a parent, you may have seen something your kids are watching that either gave you pause or a complete heart attack. Been there myself.

So, is it safe?

Since my kiddo has been asking to watch things on YouTube, I needed to bone up on what it was all about. I’m a librarian, most of my training and everyday experience is about digital citizenship, digital literacy- all things internet. YouTube was an area I hadn’t really fully explored yet. Well, now is the time! The first place I went was the source itself, YouTube Kids support center. What I found was helpful, eye opening and definitely room to give me pause on letting my son navigate on his own. Google’s filtering system uses, “a mix of automated analysis and user input“. For the most part, the system seems like it does a decent job of filtering kid appropriate content into the majority. That being said, inappropriate things still get through.

After spending time in the support center and browsing the articles and information I found there, I was able to gather some good tools to help me enhance the safety of my son’s YouTube viewing. Like anything else though, kids and YouTube need to be supervised. There isn’t a surefire way to guarantee that something inappropriate won’t slip through. When I say “inappropriate” I am really referring to two things. One, there is content that may come through on YouTube Kids that is nefarious in nature, designed to appear as being kid friendly, but is in fact scary, sexual or corrupt. Two, this is a judgement call- what one parent deems appropriate, another may not. This is where individual parenting comes into play and requires a little more time and attention to YouTube content for your kids.

What’s the danger?

I am not one to hyper sensationalize anything or assume without research. When my son started watching YouTube content, I remembered an article from a few years ago. The New York Times reported on a series of videos that had slipped through Google’s filtering algorithm on YouTube Kids. (Note: You may not be able to access the full article without a NYT subscription.) The videos were designed to appear like content for kids and even featured popular, recognizable children’s characters like Paw Patrol. This is the extreme of the inappropriate material on YouTube Kids, but not the norm. This type of issue seems to be more common on the regular YouTube page that doesn’t have the abundance of filtering systems in place as the Kids channel does.

One of my favorite places to go to review content for kids and my students is Common Sense Media. I know I have mentioned it before but it warrants being referenced again. I do not work for them and they are not paying me to say how great they are, but it is a truly amazing site. Recently, I became a Common Sense Media certified school educator. I dug around on their page a bit looking for YouTube specific information. There is a good breakdown of the type of content you might come across on YouTube and the age appropriateness of different types of available content. As an alternative, Common Sense Media suggested this list of Best Websites for Families in lieu of YouTube which can be filtered by age group.

So, what do we do?

Ultimately, it really comes down to spending time supervising the content our kids are consuming- physically and digitally. I know that sounds pretty obvious, but sometimes we get sucked into a false sense of security when we’re marketed content for kids. It’s frustrating, sure, but the internet is a big place. Whole lotta stuff out there- good and bad, funny and terrible.

Let’s circle back to the question posed at the beginning, Is YouTube safe for kids? I think it is. There are dangers and areas of concern, but overall, it hosts a vast array of entertaining, interesting and educational content. Some for kids and some is not. Use your judgement and have conversations with your kids about what they are watching. Try not to die of boredom during the videos of people building Lego sets or Minecraft villages- is that even right? My point is, keep an open dialogue with your kids about what they’re consuming on YouTube. Stay in the know.

What are your kids watching on YouTube? What about you and the rest of your family? Let us know in the comments section!.Happy Friday, fam!