It is increasingly clear to me that YouTube is a negative force in the world. My kids are both hooked on YouTube, but their inability to properly police their platform has already forced me to remove the app from their devices. There needs to be a better alternative.
Comments (14)
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I'm going to sound like a cranky old man, but I think you already applied the solution, you did the parenting thing.
Sounds like books are the way to go!
@cleverdevil YouTube is truly a horrid mess. Full of sexism, racism, hatred, discrimination all virtually without bounds. Yet it is also the de facto standard place for all kinds of useful videos from makers, teachers, schools plus some decent entertainment. It really makes me mad they put us in the position of either accepting the worst of people that damages minds or missing out useful content.
I think I've definitely applied a solution for my family, but it doesn't make any sort of dent on the larger impact on the world. I know we disagree on how platforms should treat content, so I won't rehash here 😉
@ronguest @cleverdevil Oh my word, so true. There is some truly great stuff there, and then at the other end of the spectrum: pure filth. There is the kids' version of YouTube that I delude myself into thinking is less harmful, but I'm sure things must sneak through...
@herself @cleverdevil When my kids were younger we tried the kids version and a) it was incredibly limited (i.e. lots of useful/safe content not included) and b) nasty stuff still snuck through.
@herself @ronguest It makes me crazy (CRAZY!) how much my kids’ school relies on YouTube in the classroom.
@petebrown And in bed with Google as well. It’s scary how much Google is siphoning up from school kids.
@ronguest I couldn’t agree more. The part that bothers me the most is their utter disregard for policing their platform, and the fact that they enable radicalization.
@herself we have tried kids YouTube and it’s better, but so much still slips through. It’s just not good enough.
@ronguest @petebrown ugh. If only it wasn't so insidious... or if the sciency videos, and tutorials could somehow break away from the mindless crap.
@ronguest Yeah—my 8yo has already created a few presentations for class in Google Slides. I hate it, but there is no practical alternative.
@herself My favorite part is when they are using a YouTube video as part of some all-school event and an ad comes on.
@petebrown hehehehe! 😈