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Algorithm That Makes Preschoolers Obsessed with YouTube

theatlantic.com

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Re: Algorithm That Makes Preschoolers Obsessed with YouTube

#31

Post by Theodores »

I grew up with 3 channels and an analogue black and white TV that died after an hour due to thermal runaway. Unsupervised daytime viewing did not happen. Putting on the TV when the parents were out in the day was tantamount to drinking spirits for breakfast, or that is how it felt, as if we had nothing to do.

Back then the recommendation engine was your friends and you would talk about 'Life on Earth's or whatever else was the main presentation on TV the night before. Everyone was on the same page so you could not ruin life for box set types.

In that framework you had to pay attention and understand the nuances of the story. If you didn't then you would not be in on convo and you would miss out. So you learned stuff.

If you only had two hours of time in front of a screen you were focused on the programming and it may have been what your parents want to watch, e.g. current affairs or drama. There was definitely an aspect of education to it.

I did not get all the channels or the colours that my contemporaries from other regions did so there is a 50% gap in my TV education, so I don't pick up on references to a lot of stuff, yet that shared culture is a good thing, humanising. The stuff I miss out on, it is like not being on Facebook.

The stuff YouTube are doing is wonderful but I wonder if we need to be trained into this solitary rather than shared viewing. The sharing in conversation was important to me.

Re: Algorithm That Makes Preschoolers Obsessed with YouTube

#32

Post by ForRealsies »

bdamm wrote: post #25
thatswrong0 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I noticed this myself watching my friends young cousin browse Youtube.. his feed was half clickbait 20-something white guys yelling at you to subscribe Minecraft videos, half perverted (such as Spiderman kissing Elsa from Frozen) or oddly gory children videos like the ones described in the article. If I ever have kids, there's no way in hell I'm letting them run free with an iPad or iPhone. I know it's the "easy way…

You may make a different choice after years of being unable to do anything but give 100% of your attention to the child. Someone needs to cook & clean, or go to work, after all. In the "old days" you'd just cut your kid loose into the environment. Well, these days, TV and iPads are part of the environment, and YouTube along with it. I'm not saying you wouldn't make boundaries. Boundaries are important. But that may a…

Elsagate

Re: Algorithm That Makes Preschoolers Obsessed with YouTube

#33

Post by [deleted] »

fudged71 wrote: post #26
corysama wrote: post #16

In the past couple of years there has been a huge uptick in YT content targeting very young children. The feedback loop is so tight that many of the creators have converged on designing some of the most visceral (and disturbing) material that appeals to kids at a reptilian level. Think about how genuinely weird little kids are. Sometimes they do stuff that would be scary if it wasn't just a minute of innocent pretend…

My wife is a teacher and one of her students in grade 2 has somehow been seeing beheading videos (apparently on youtube but that seems nearly impossible) because they are left with an ipad for so long. I can't even begin to comprehend what that would do to the brain of a child. TV for children is very restricted and regulated for a very important reason.

[deleted]

Re: Algorithm That Makes Preschoolers Obsessed with YouTube

#34

Post by Retric »

fudged71 wrote: post #26
corysama wrote: post #16

In the past couple of years there has been a huge uptick in YT content targeting very young children. The feedback loop is so tight that many of the creators have converged on designing some of the most visceral (and disturbing) material that appeals to kids at a reptilian level. Think about how genuinely weird little kids are. Sometimes they do stuff that would be scary if it wasn't just a minute of innocent pretend…

My wife is a teacher and one of her students in grade 2 has somehow been seeing beheading videos (apparently on youtube but that seems nearly impossible) because they are left with an ipad for so long. I can't even begin to comprehend what that would do to the brain of a child. TV for children is very restricted and regulated for a very important reason.

Beheading was public spectacle up until very recently, kids are less distressed by seeing violence than you might think.

If anything it's people with problems that tend to search for such things rather than such videos causing something.

Re: Algorithm That Makes Preschoolers Obsessed with YouTube

#35

Post by throwawaymanbot »

You see such things as the following. You'll find a video that teaches colors.. harmless you say? No, because the different colors are really an Advert for Lays Brand Potato chips. Teaching a child colors, using different colors of different flavors of Lays potato chips should not be allowed on any kids platform and should be regulated. I think this sort of advertising is disgusting.

Re: Algorithm That Makes Preschoolers Obsessed with YouTube

#36

Post by jpalomaki »

We wonder why kids watch the same content over and over again, but are we any different? I can admit to listening few musical pieces quite many times and still enjoy them. Same applies to well done (standup) comedy clips, somehow they don't loose their value in my eyes even though I know exactly what will happen.

Re: Algorithm That Makes Preschoolers Obsessed with YouTube

#37

Post by jackhack »

ashark wrote: post #19
ssharp wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My kids were a little under 2 heading into election season. We watched very little television at that age but there was one YouTube show that would really help calm down one of them. Pretty much every time we watched that, we got a Trump ad. Yay living in Ohio! Thankfully they've taken to some PBS shows like Daniel Tiger and Thomas, so they're usually content with that and we generally don't watch them on YouTube, so…

> Thankfully they've taken to some PBS shows like Daniel Tiger and Thomas I recommend tracking down some old-school Mister Rogers' Neighborhood if you can. Totally engages my 4-year-old, and she actually talks to him when prompted, which she does with no other children's show. The pace is sedate and the shots long (like, really long, in a way I didn't appreciate as a kid—that had to be difficult to film). They make T…

All television from the 60s and 70s had extremely long shots by today's standards.

Just for fun pick any show on any channel with modern content. Drama, comedy, even news broadcasts -- the average shot duration is only 3.5 seconds. SECONDS! Not only that, but the weird camera angles, and the infuriating "shakey cam" (handled camera being purposely jiggled) is predominant in children's programming, and used to keep our ever-decreasing focus. (It's a wonder that children today can focus long enough to ever read a single paragraph.)

Now, for comparison, watch an episode of Andy Griffith, or I Love Lucy, and marvel that one camera shot might be 3 minutes long.

Re: Algorithm That Makes Preschoolers Obsessed with YouTube

#38

Post by cpach »

Raphmedia wrote: post #29
cpach wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks interesting. How well does this app prevent weird/disturbing/bad videos?

"Videos available in the app are determined by a mix of algorithmic filtering, user input and human review. " https://support.google.com/youtubekids/answer/6172307?hl=en-...

Yeah, I was curious if anyone has experience with how well that works in practice.

Re: Algorithm That Makes Preschoolers Obsessed with YouTube

#39

Post by tobbe2064 »

tpeo wrote: post #10
option wrote: post #2

Kids aged 2 and 3 should watch any content together with their parent. Or at the very least, the content that parent watched and approved before. No 2 or 3 year old should be mindlessly browsing Youtube

As much as I agree, notice that it sort of defeats the point of it all if the they have to sit there with their child. It ain't easy being a parent, a 9 to 5 worker and a household manager within a 24h schedule. If parents leave their children to do some mindless thing while unnatended, it's often because they don't have enough time to give attention to all the stuff which is immediatelly pressing them.

You don't actually need to distract them. It's important for them to learn that there is shit that needs to be done and there are periods of boredom.

Re: Algorithm That Makes Preschoolers Obsessed with YouTube

#40

Post by stephenboyd »

corysama wrote: post #16

In the past couple of years there has been a huge uptick in YT content targeting very young children. The feedback loop is so tight that many of the creators have converged on designing some of the most visceral (and disturbing) material that appeals to kids at a reptilian level. Think about how genuinely weird little kids are. Sometimes they do stuff that would be scary if it wasn't just a minute of innocent pretend…

Holy shit, that's worse than I expected.
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