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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

#411

Post by hnzix »

jacobush wrote: post #202
hnzix wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just the latest iteration of how any website is only 7 Kevin Bacon clicks away from rotten.com. The net is vast and infinite and funnels the human id. Autotegenerated content will never be a clean feed until machine learning evolves. Or to put it another way, teach your kids to talk with you if they see or experience something icky.

No! This is not about degrees of separation. It is about systematic abuse for profit.

> systematic abuse for profit

Autogenerating content targeted at kids is "systematic abuse for profit" in the same way that Disney holding focus groups is "abuse". The content is clearly entertaining to kids, or else there would be no economic incentive to create it.

The algorithm occasionally picks up some nasty troll content by accident (hence degrees of separation). It is clearly unintentional as it goes against the financial interests of the channels.

This is a long way from "zomg illuminati bot conspiracy subliminal evil content child abuse".

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

#412

Post by mixedCase »

donatj wrote: post #317
colanderman wrote: post #255

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…

I had to Google the Peppa Pig eating her own father video, and I can say without a doubt I would rather have my child watch that than Peppa Pig.

What's more, it is hilarious how this was shown as an example of the videos targeting kids. As a native spanish speaker, it seems overhwelmingly obvious to me that this is just a standard parody animation targeted for teens and young adults. Equivalent in tone to SpeedoSausage and much of the Newgrounds crowd.

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

#413

Post by musage »

Cpoll wrote: post #256

Unrelated to the news article, but I'm alarmed that the usual HN balanced-skepticism is largely buried in this thread: Almost no-one has questioned whether these videos are indeed harmful to children. The top comment is a Medium article that sensationalizes these videos to the point where I was afraid the video would destroy my brain a-la Snow Crash. I'm picking up a lot of "please think of the children" and "you wou…

> Almost no-one has questioned whether these videos are indeed harmful to children.

Then feel free to question it. Since this refers to a large body of videos, make sure you did your homework. Just some random things from the top of the pile if you will (but it's a big pile and frankly, even just the amount of very messed up things on the surface doesn't exactly make me want to measure out this particular ocean in full detail, I am scared less of watch lists than just poisoning my own brain or making myself sad for no reason or rather, with no constructive outcome -- but at least I'm not gonna be the guy/gal you chose to be, who hears a sea gull sample on the radio to tell us off for being fascinated by marine life)

https://www.reddit.com/r/ElsaGate/comments/7cacnp/my_little_...

https://www.reddit.com/r/ElsaGate/comments/78mz7f/forced_sla...

Though I agree with you in that this hardly is some magical line beyond which stuff becomes harmful, but it's a very high concentration of it. We let marketing instill "brand loyalty" in kids, now they use cartoon figures and brands babies are likely to know to groom them for other purposes:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ElsaGate/comments/7c5kar/another_re...

We live in a world where people physically throwing out poisoned bait for dogs is a thing. So apart from ad revenue or considerations about pedophile cults, even "just" producing this stuff en masse for the "fun" of destroying minds is a real possibility. You can roll your eyes at that, but when it's this big and obviously laced with known themes of abuse and methods of grooming, that says nothing about the issue and all about your superficial knowledge of it. Why would the reaction to something you can't even be bothered to actually look at "alarm" you either way?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ElsaGate/comments/7c114l/sick_fvcks...

No, I didn't watch most of these videos either. The titles are enough. "bad babies playing doctor toys put an enema song nursery rhymes for children". Thanks. And actual real human beings dress up and play weird [ things, often in mansion like houses with flashy cars in the driveway.

This is a specific phenomenon. We don't really fully know what's going on and who does it why or bandwagons what. Which we aren't exactly to blame for, having asked for none of it, but at least making a better job at taking it seriously than you. Whatever it may remind you of, it's only what it actually is. Look at the actual specific stuff or don't. But nevermind parents, just as a human being I would tread lightly here before informing myself better.

> that sensationalizes these videos to the point where I was afraid the video would destroy my brain a-la Snow Crash.

The video? As in singular? How do you make the connection from you watching one full video (since most are above 10 minutes I doubt even that) as an adult to the harm that might be done to children ranging from 0 to infant who might watch hours and weeks of them being "sensationalized"?

How many hours of these videos across how many individual clips and accounts have you seen? Would you let your kids watch these things unsupervised, if yes, for how long per week at most? These three questions should be the entrance requirement to take part in this discussion, because if you belittle this without even having actually looked it, well, don't put that on yourself. Because it reads like people who belittle or rationalize atrocities that happen under their watch and with their implicit support. "Detrimental to children" in light of these videos, and their sheer amount, is like calling mass murder "not very nice".

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

#414

Post by ceejayoz »

krapp wrote: post #407
ceejayoz wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't think small toddlers easily stumbling across disturbing videos of grown men in thongs and Spiderman masks is potentially harmful and dangerous?

Why would it be? Honestly - the image of grown men in thongs and Spider Man masks is disturbing to adults only in a certain context, you could just as well be describing modern wrestlers, whose content is targeted to slightly older children. But how would a toddler be damaged by it?

Have you seen these videos? Spiderman peeing on Elsa? Come on.

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

#415

Post by krapp »

ceejayoz wrote: post #414
krapp wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would it be? Honestly - the image of grown men in thongs and Spider Man masks is disturbing to adults only in a certain context, you could just as well be describing modern wrestlers, whose content is targeted to slightly older children. But how would a toddler be damaged by it?

Have you seen these videos? Spiderman peeing on Elsa? Come on.

I have seen some of them, but I'm not a toddler.

How would seeing this content actually be harmful to a toddler (1 - ~3 years old?)

I'm not a child psychologist so I may be wrong but I think you need a certain awareness of cultural norms to be disturbed by deviations from those norms, and toddlers might not even recognize what they're looking at, much less know that it's wrong, or why. I suspect these particular videos are more meant to disturb parents than kids.

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

#416

Post by nickodell »

Karunamon wrote: post #386
spookthesunset wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seriously don’t see what is wrong with a five year old watching that? Did you even watch it?

Perhaps you could explain it rather than making an argument to incredulity?

I don't think it does have a story. Things happen in it, sure, but not for a reason. In one skit, the bad guys bring a tiny shark, then enlarge it with a magic wand. At first, it chases them in a pool, but after they get out, the shark flies after them. The shark eats punch and turns red. The Narrator says, "Red." They run into a room, and the shark phases through the wall. They run out of the room. They run outside, and the good guys shoot at the shark with guns. The shark changes color again. Finally, they shoot the shark with a wand, which changes it back again. This last part is the only part within the skit where something is stipulated, and then becomes relevant again. Every other time, something happens for no reason, and then that thing doesn't happen again.

In another skit, a girl want to play with all of the other kids. She tries to take away one child's toy, but he gets angry, and pushes her to the ground. She runs away, and finds her magic wand. The magic wand turns a red toy into an evil red ghost. The kids shoot at with guns until it pops. The magic wand creates a green ghost. The kids shoot it. Wand creates a pink ghost. The kids shoot it. Wand creates a yellow ghost. The kids shoot it. The girl runs away.

There's also no continuity or story between the skits. In one skit, the Joker sneaks into someone's house and kidnaps them. In another, he's a good guy, changing all of the watermelon into rainbow watermelon.

TL;DR: Shell out for PBS. Don't let your children watch this.

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

#417

Post by Symbiote »

roel_v wrote: post #135
X-Istence wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from The Netherlands, and I can't say for certain, but I can't remember a product being sold at a grocery store that had characters from a children's TV show/movie on the label to try and sell it. Cereal is less of an issue in the first place (that's a very US thing, didn't even know it existed till I moved to the US when I was 10), but you just don't find brands associating themselves with characters from movies…

"I'm from The Netherlands, and I can't say for certain, but I can't remember a product being sold at a grocery store that had characters from a children's TV show/movie on the label to try and sell it" What? You mustn't have any children. There is cereal of Frozen and Moana here, Paw Patrol sprinkles, k3 stuff (forgot which), there's various franchise stuff in the dairy section, ... That's not even counting the non-f…

Here's the cereal shelf of one of the larger supermarkets in the city centre of Copenhagen (still a fairly small supermarket).

Kellogs' products are on the bottom, only two boxes have child-appealing designs.

There was nothing worth photographing in the dairy section. One product was designed for children (cheese stick thing). A chocolate milkshake had a cartoon logo, but it has probably had that logo since 1950.

https://ibb.co/cQco8G

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

#418

Post by astura »

KarlAuer wrote: post #399
astura wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about 3 year olds but parking infants in front of "educational" videos does the opposite: http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1650352,0...

incidentally, I have a similar opinion on school.

There's a difference between "opinions" and "facts."

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

#419

Post by sctb »

vfclists wrote: post #225

This stuff needs to go too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhNbGTnA53s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAedktI1nyc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIsVGDq8nd8

Hacker News is not a battleground for tediously dumb ideological skirmishes, so please stop commenting as though it is or we'll ban the account.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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

#420

Post by ceejayoz »

krapp wrote: post #415
ceejayoz wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you seen these videos? Spiderman peeing on Elsa? Come on.

I have seen some of them, but I'm not a toddler. How would seeing this content actually be harmful to a toddler (1 - ~3 years old?) I'm not a child psychologist so I may be wrong but I think you need a certain awareness of cultural norms to be disturbed by deviations from those norms, and toddlers might not even recognize what they're looking at, much less know that it's wrong, or why. I suspect these particular vide…

Having had kids that age a few years back, the idea that a 1-3 year old is ignorant of cultural norms is pretty laughable.

It also concerns me that exposure to this sort of thing might help them form the impression that the behaviors depicted are within the normal range of interaction.

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