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YouTube says it will crack down on bizarre videos targeting children

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Re: YouTube says it will crack down on bizarre videos targeting children

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm reading the article and trying to figure out exactly where the horrible "mind scrambling" is happening. The article seems to say "back when I was a kid, my parent entertained me with contentless saccharine trip from sources we trusted (Disney et al) but now contentless saccharine trip is autogenerated (duh duh duh) and who knows what effect that is going to have on 'developing brains'" And would suspect, contrawi…

Disney movies generally makes sense and have some logic rooted in the real world . Yes there are talking animals and magic but the stories ultimately relate to the human experience. I think the problem with the crap the author finds is that – it is nonsensical . These videos addict kids by triggering their innate desire to seek out novel/scary situations and explore them. This instinct exists so kids learn about the…

Human beings begin learning to speak by babbling - producing nonsensical language gradually begin to make sense.

It seem illogical that a sense stream of images would innately dangerous by itself. Indeed, most of the things that a child sees at a young age are senseless to the child even if they have a logic to them. Moroever, a child is going observe a senseless stream of images whenever an adult begins channel surfing in a determined manner.

Re: YouTube says it will crack down on bizarre videos targeting children

#262
post #117
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their focus on family friendly content does not affect anything else - it even has its own app, YouTube Kids. This is the correct way to do it. If you are seeing channels die then it's for some other reason than YouTube trying to make a separate kid friendly app.

Yeah, they want to go advertiser friendly and are being ridiculous about it.

This is entirely predictable under capitalism. Read Manufacturing Consent.

Re: YouTube says it will crack down on bizarre videos targeting children

#263
post #84
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How on earth can parents willingly expose their children to any kind of advertisement is beyond me. Adblocking is a must. Especially at such young age, you should know and control all manipulative media your kid consumes.

You mean like TV ads, billboards, bumper stickers, magazines, newspapers, NPR sponsors, ....

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Re: YouTube says it will crack down on bizarre videos targeting children

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm reading the article and trying to figure out exactly where the horrible "mind scrambling" is happening. The article seems to say "back when I was a kid, my parent entertained me with contentless saccharine trip from sources we trusted (Disney et al) but now contentless saccharine trip is autogenerated (duh duh duh) and who knows what effect that is going to have on 'developing brains'" And would suspect, contrawi…

Are you even trying to compare a Disney film or similar "saccharnine contentless" media to the sheer acid trip nightmare fuel that is videos like these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXjJdv5fj5k

I don't get what is so bad? If you watch the video it has a story, it is just really poorly animated.

Re: YouTube says it will crack down on bizarre videos targeting children

#265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whereas in my jurisdiction (USA), corporate media conglomerates employ PhD trained child psychologists who research the exact pattern and timing of flashes and other stimuli to catch an iron grip on a child's attention. Our children do not stand a chance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi63rXnuWbw

Nor our adults, now.

I find myself uncomfortably watching the threshold of will power and competence to use the internet safely creeping up slowly, but very steadily over time.

Sometimes I use a browser in a context where I have my ad-blocking shields down (someone else's system, a browser after an upgrade briefly trashes my config), and it's disturbing to me that despite being fully armed with HN-grade world-weary cynicism and the fact that I've been online for coming up on 25-ish years now (starting with BBSes before I could get on the Internet proper), that Taboola crap still sometimes takes conscious effort to not click on it, because it's that good. Goodness help me if they were any good at delivering what those articles promised, because what usually saves me is remembering that it's just straight up a lie. To be clear, this is still a sub-second process in my head, but it still disturbs me that they can get even that far.

I have two children, 9 and 6. I find myself wondering how long it's going to be before I can trust them on the Internet at all; is the necessary competence receding at a rate greater than one year per year? Ten years ago I would have confidently said "no", and my primary threat model would have been "don't do stupid things that get you computer viruses". Now it's ads, and this sort of crap.

Re: YouTube says it will crack down on bizarre videos targeting children

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disney movies generally makes sense and have some logic rooted in the real world . Yes there are talking animals and magic but the stories ultimately relate to the human experience. I think the problem with the crap the author finds is that – it is nonsensical . These videos addict kids by triggering their innate desire to seek out novel/scary situations and explore them. This instinct exists so kids learn about the…

Human beings begin learning to speak by babbling - producing nonsensical language gradually begin to make sense. It seem illogical that a sense stream of images would innately dangerous by itself. Indeed, most of the things that a child sees at a young age are senseless to the child even if they have a logic to them. Moroever, a child is going observe a senseless stream of images whenever an adult begins channel surf…

> Human beings begin learning to speak by babbling - producing nonsensical language gradually begin to make sense.

That analogy is flawed. Children don't learn to speak by listening to each other babble. They learn by listening to adults speak in cohesive, logical sentences.

> It seem illogical that a sense stream of images would innately dangerous by itself.

If it causes the child to ruminate on a nonsensical topic, it is. Children have very limited time to learn about social norms and human behavior.

> Moroever, a child is going observe a senseless stream of images whenever an adult begins channel surfing in a determined manner.

You seem to misunderstand the amount of time children spend watching adults change television channels, versus say, literally anything else that occurs in their life.

Re: YouTube says it will crack down on bizarre videos targeting children

#267
post #155

I don't believe in this kind of censorship and that medium article just reads like a bunch of alarmist nonsense to me. I was exposed to tons of super-weird stuff on TV an the internet (adult swim, fat-pie, etc) and so were most of my friends growing up. I don't think it was problematic for any of us. When you're a kid and something feels disturbing, you turn it off. Our society really doesn't give kids any credit for…

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Re: YouTube says it will crack down on bizarre videos targeting children

#268

Also, in case you glazed over the link to the recent Medium article, here it is: https://medium.com/@jamesbridle/something-is-wrong-on-the-in... I read it last night after the wife recommended it ... and wow.

The article seems to never get to the point. What was the disturbing thing?

There isn't anything actually disturbing in this article, the author and everyone here are freaking out over nothing. And it's odd too, because you can literally go to any child's vlog on Youtube and find tons of pedophiles making lewd comments. Are people not aware of that? That's disturbing, not this algorithmically-generated clickbait stuff.

Re: YouTube says it will crack down on bizarre videos targeting children

#269

With all the child-friendly content available on Netflix, Hulu, and HBO (the home of Seaseme Street), I think I'm going to skip youtube until my son is older.

Also Kindle Fire Kids edition is great for young ones. I have a completely locked down profile with only hand-picked shows/videos for my toddler. Mrs. and I are going through some medical stuff so it helps tremendously when he is able to stay quiet for 30-40mins at doctor's office watching Daniel Tiger. We don't let him play on his Kindle often but it is definitely one of the best purchases I made.

I have been pretty selective with Netflix shows because some of them seem pretty repetitive. I had high hopes for Word Party ( http://nypost.com/2015/07/01/netflix-to-stream-kids-word-par... ) when I first heard about it but it is honestly the same 3-4 songs repeated over and over in each episode. Instead we prefer to let him watch shows for slightly older kids that involve better story-telling and more complex concepts. E.g. We Bare Bears in Hulu is great.

I've noticed that 2d animation content is often much better than 3d and I think the medium post corroborates it.

Re: YouTube says it will crack down on bizarre videos targeting children

#270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm reading the article and trying to figure out exactly where the horrible "mind scrambling" is happening. The article seems to say "back when I was a kid, my parent entertained me with contentless saccharine trip from sources we trusted (Disney et al) but now contentless saccharine trip is autogenerated (duh duh duh) and who knows what effect that is going to have on 'developing brains'" And would suspect, contrawi…

Are you even trying to compare a Disney film or similar "saccharnine contentless" media to the sheer acid trip nightmare fuel that is videos like these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXjJdv5fj5k

Watching that is tantamount to reading Act II from The King in Yellow.
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