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YouTube has become the world's nanny

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Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#221

Post by BbzzbB »

swimf wrote: post #70
arcturus17 wrote: post #14

Yea I don’t have kids but I’ve seen it with all kids in my extended family. I like Youtube, there is content of tremendous value, for knowledge and entertainment. However, one thing I’ve personally observed is that too much of it can destroy your focus and motivation. There is some science in there about brain chemistry and reward systems, in line with what some pop scientists with Cal Newport and Andrew Huberman are…

I've never admitted this online but screw it. I've been a drug user for about 2/3 my live. Battled with prescription pills the longest.. managed to kick the habit with meth. YouTube is as addictive as anything i just mentioned. More so if you're in a group testing future services in return for an "ad free" experience (you know the ones which claim to"improve Google services"). Everything else everyone has said is tru…

I'm lucky that I've never battled with addiction to hard drugs, but I have struggled for 10 years with cigarettes and all of my adult life with weed and being online. Personally, while weed has had the most detrimental effect on my life (partly by synergizing so well with mind-numbing time-wasters), the hardest one for me to get rid of is 100% my toxic relationship with the Internet.

It's incredible to me that we all have the powerful dopamine dispensers in out pockets; trained on billions of users and well calibrated to our personal pitfalls. I find the mechanisms of addiction and the emotional loop they put you in to be virtually the same between the 3, despite them being so different in how they are "ingested" and affect your brain.

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#222

Post by efields »

(US-centric take) Everyone’s parenting journey is different. YouTube can play a part, or not. Maybe a doctor’s appointment comes up and you have to watch the kids for a few hours. You can go through the toys and games you have and maybe all will go well for a few hours and things will be great.

Or maybe things are running longer than your stamina and you need to put on Ms. Rachel and leave the room for a half hour and regain your sanity.

Or you can pay a nanny to endlessly entertain your kids sans screens. Money isn’t an object for you and someone is willing to do the job for $20/hour and hopefully they never get sick or have care needs of their own.

You can also live in the woods and homeschool your kids and teach them long division with acorns and berries while your husband hunts game.

You, personally, yes you, unless you’ve actually studied this as your profession, have no relevant insight to the lives of parents writ large when the society we’ve built invests little in early childhood care needs. I literally know what’s best for my children based on the things I know about their lives.

We’ll deploy YouTube as needed. We’ll use iPad on the potty if it helps with that process. We’ll do our best.

Please, just, don’t make broad commentary on how to raise kids in 21st century America. It’s not helpful.

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#223

Post by rTX5CMRXIfFG »

rich_sasha wrote: post #167
rTX5CMRXIfFG wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why is YT necessary? Couldn’t you have given your kids access to a more curated and education-dedicated video platform instead? Heck, even Disney+ sounds better here.

"Necessary" is a strong word. It's acceptable IMO, and my kids like it. If you want some more reasons: - I strongly feel my children have agency, within reason. They like it, more than Disney+, and it's not a strong detractor. - Frankly, most of the YT stuff they watch is, really, more appropriate. Bite-sized sciency or crafty things, with a silly song. Disney+ stuff I could find myself was genuinely either a bit bor…

I get the parallels with past generations but YT is different and you as a parent should be thinking about its specific properties as a platform. It might have some thought-provoking entertainment but it is too huge and assorted, and where I come from, it has been weaponized by corrupt political families to spread historical revisionism packaged as “educational content” which ultimately brought them back to power. Then there’s the flat-earthers, anti-vaxxers, climate change deniers, etc. It’s not worth the trouble as I’m not going to be able to watch my kids all the time. I’d rather they develop their critical thinking and hobbies through offline avenues before they are exposed to addictive apps that make it too easy to discover disinformation.

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#224

Post by snhly »

isthisthingon99 wrote: post #106

YouTube is the best invention in modern history. While working I can passively listen to thousands of ideas in a year often curated by my interests automatically. We don't teach people how to use these things well but we should.

Unless this is sarcasm, I completely disagree. Listening to thousands of ideas inevitably lowers the value you attach to each one, and lowers the barrier of entry for what ideas you hear.

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#225

Post by grugagag »

theshrike79 wrote: post #151
jahsome wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

If you really want to get your mind blown: We've never used a tablet just because a kid is bored. Children need to be able to handle boredom. If you need to hand over your phone to your toddler just to keep them calm, you've got some work to do. The amount of kids in strollers with a parent's phone in hand is just staggering. Or a tablet in the headrest for watching shows on any car trip over 15 minutes.

Handing the phone to children all the time to pacify them has some costs down the line, their reward circuitry gets altered and not saying impossible to repair but not easy either. Kids and parents may suffer for it later on in their lives

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#227

Post by grugagag »

gnz11 wrote: post #195
theshrike79 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actual produced content, made by professionals who don't get paid per view or swag sales. Netflix and Disney+ have good content, you pay for it and they give you content. There is no parasocial relationship or algorithmic suggestions that direct the user to a dark hole of exploitative content. Most countries have a PBS equivalent, a non-commercial public broadcast channel that produces quality content without.

Let’s not kid ourselves, Netflix, Amazon, etc put out a ton of crap content too (e.g. Blippi). PBS Kids, KIKA, etc put out a lot of kids content on YouTube as well. Heck there’s a ton of great public media on YouTube in general. My subscription list is mostly public media from various countries and I don’t have the algorithm issues what most are describing here.

My kid had a blippi phase but has moved on now. Blippi may monkey around but it’s educative after all. There are many other inane brain melting options to avoid

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#228

Post by blitzar »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #153
blitzar wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds more like a parent that is totally disconnected from the reality of their child than a particularly deceptive child.

FWIW, if my memory is in any way accurate, 10 y.o. is about the age I stopped discussing a class of topics with my parent, after one too many times of me wanting to share something important and feeling ignored. My parents lost a window into a chunk of my life then, and honestly, never really regained to this day. It sounds stupid even to me now, but it's really not easy to fix such things at the age of 30+. Those em…

There is a reasonable probability that your parents were entirely aware of that chunk of your life, if not in detail at least the broad themes etc - but sensibly allowed it to be a healthy part of your independence and identity.

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#229

Post by throwaway4aday »

arcturus17 wrote: post #114
boppo1 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started using bottomless digital wells at 9 years old and it has led to compulsive browsing behavior with severely negative long-term consequences for my life.

> it has led to compulsive browsing behavior with severely negative long-term consequences for my life If I can offer practical advice that has worked for me in pulling me back from bad browsing habits: 1. Meditate ~10min every morning 2. Start a reading habit, even if it's modest (start with 10 pages a day) 3. Create physical barriers between you and devices: 3.1. Do not sleep with a device in the room (if you use i…

A really important addition there is to make sure you get your sleep routine in order. If you don't sleep well then sticking to any of the other habits is going to be incredibly hard. Decide on a sleep schedule that gives you between 7 and 8 hours in bed with no distractions, lights out. Even if you can't fall asleep easily just disciplining yourself to stick to this schedule will help. I can't stress how important it is to not use your phone in bed, no books either. If you're going to read before bed then do it before your scheduled bed time and make sure you have a reminder set to tell you when you need to drop what you're doing and go to bed. Set an alarm to wake yourself up and try to stick to it even if you didn't get much sleep. You'll be tired but that should make it easier to fall asleep the next night. If you can get this routine locked in then the rest of the habits will be much easier to stick to.

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#230

Post by moffkalast »

throwawaylinux wrote: post #123
e1g wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

COVID absolutely warped kids’ brains in ways we will not understand for decades, but also kids seem to have a hardwired affinity for other kids. For example, I have a two year old who has never seen Youtube/Netflix/TV and has a revolving door of playmates. She loves “reading” books with us, and her non-negotiable toddler “preference” is always for books with photos of other kids. Not animals or cartoons or fun drawin…

Covid didn't do anything to children, the reaction to covid from governments and parents did.

Well except to the ones that died from it.
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