Gaurav Rathore
His write-ups blend creativity, personal experience, and tailored technical advice, meeting reader needs effectively.
Who doesn’t know about YouTube, the popular video-streaming service? You would have probably heard of this app and the anecdotes of its popularity unless you were living under a rock.
However, apart from being a popular social media app among netizens, it has also been gaining parents’ attention for some not-so-good reasons, i.e., risking children’s developmental process.
To spread awareness about these risks, the New York Times has also warned people to take YouTube dangers seriously.
Considering these risks, as a parent, you would want to uncover the reality behind these controversies and learn whether they’re as safe as people claim them to be. So, let’s jump in!
Quick Answer:
YouTube is an online video-sharing social media platform where you can watch, like, comment on, and upload videos. It has a vast library of videos catering to people of all ages, which makes it a relatively unsafe social media platform for kids.
YouTube is an online video-sharing platform owned by Google where users can watch, like, share, comment on videos, and even upload original content.
This video-sharing service was launched on February 14, 2005. With 2.5 billion monthly active users, it has become the second most visited website in the world after Google Search.
It hosts millions and billions of videos, ranging from musical pieces to educational films and video blogs to entertaining skits. Moreover, it is free to access on PCs, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones.
YouTube has undergone considerable changes and offers some notable features apart from allowing users to like, comment, share, and subscribe to other users’ videos and creators. So, let’s take a look at those features.
To set up a YouTube account, the user must be 18 years old or 13+ with parental guidance. However, if you just want to use YouTube services, you must be at least 13.
However, to use the services, you must first sign up or create an account, and if you don’t meet the age requirements, you might need to get your parents’ consent.
Although YouTube is a relatively safer social media platform, it is not completely safe for kids! It poses serious privacy concerns, as it stores your kid’s private data and exposes them to explicit content, like nudity and profanity, on the internet.
Not only that, many users on the internet add phishing links in their comments, and kids, being kids, click on those links, which often leads to financial losses.
Various mental health experts have also warned that fear-inducing videos on YouTube affect brain development in young children.
Considering these risks, YouTube has been censored, filtered, or banned in various countries like China, North Korea, etc., for various reasons.
Thus, I recommend you limit your kids from using the app and ensure supervision while they browse.
As mentioned earlier, this platform is dangerous for inexperienced kids who know too little about the atrocities of the internet. Here are some aspects that make this app a walking red flag:
With billions of videos curated for different users, it is almost impossible to avoid inappropriate videos on the platform, and for kids, it’s more difficult than ever.
Bullying using the comments section is pretty common on this video-sharing app. So, if your kid has a creator profile, they might receive some hate comments that may deter their mental health.
As much as this app is entertaining, it can also be addictive for kids, as they lack self-control while watching videos. On top of that, if your kids get addicted to the app, they might throw a fit now and then.
The rising trend of YouTube challenges has become downright dangerous and started to promote unsafe behavior, like the Ice Bucket Challenge, Bird Box Challenge, etc.
Similar to other social media platforms, YouTube is not an exception to heavy-ad-specific promotions. However, the problem is that these ads promote behaviors like narcissism and a lack of empathy.
Many researchers have found that excessive screen time with low-quality media may contribute to poorer language development in children.
Considering the amount of risk it poses to little kids, it is crucial to adopt some proactive measures that ensure your kid’s safety on the app. Here. I’ve listed some pro tips that will help you, so let’s take a look!
As YouTube is set to public by default, it might give strangers unrestricted access to your child’s sensitive information. So, what you need to do is change the privacy settings and make your kid’s account private.
You can also turn off the comments to protect your child from cyberbullying risks.
YouTube has a safety mode that you can use to restrict mature content from appearing on your child’s feed.
As this platform is not safe, I recommend you set up YouTube parental controls and install third-party parental apps on your teen’s smartphone to ensure supervision at all times.
The app has a restricted mode that makes it relatively hard for the mature content to reach your child. You can also use it to lock the account so that no one can lift the restrictions except for you.
As YouTube has been through many controversies for posing risks to children, it will be safer to use YouTube Kids, a version specifically curated for kids and their needs.
As a parent, it has become necessary to understand how YouTube is ruining our children’s development, especially kids with ADHD or autism. Thus, what we can do is use a gentle approach with kids and take proactive measures to ensure their innocent childhood.
No, your child must be at least 13 years old to use the YouTube service.
YouTube was created on February 14, 2005.
No, YouTube is not entirely safe, as it is a social media platform and poses various risks, like showing nudity and explicit content.
Yes, there is a kid-friendly version of YouTube, i.e., YouTube Kids.
