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YouTube has become the world's nanny

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Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#281
post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d argue that our current algorithms can absolutely find the right stuff for your child, its just not in their financial interest to do so. Sad stuff from capitalism, as always.

There is absolutely no technical reason this problem could not be solved. It is not a technical issue. It is a human issue. Just like most issues of modern society.

Is there an existing service I can pay to curate YouTube?

Is it allowed to sell a YouTube app that only offers curated content?

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#282

As a parent, screen time vs no screen time is a fine line that we have to continually renegotiate. Screens can be great, there is so much good information out there that can enrich our lives. I wouldn't go the "no screens ever" route because that's just being a luddite, robbing them of the change to experience, and acquire expertise in, the digital world that they will be interacting with for the rest of their lives.…

I still think that treating the problem as screen time is the wrong approach. It is too low resolution. What happens on the screen matters. Many parents end up using screen time as a very blunt tool because we simply lack better tools. But curating content as a family is close to unfeasible because it goes against sponsored algorithmic curation to which others are still exposed and once a kid is socialized they face…

Caring parents aren't in an impossible situation. The problem is that we have given up on the old adage that it takes a village to raise a child. Corporations have, intentionally or not, contributed heavily to the destruction of our villages, physical and online. I think with just five sets of parents sharing a similar worldview, it would very practical for them to curate enough good educational content for all their kids. Having four other families on the same program in their own community will reinforce to the kids that the parents aren't antagonists, but that this is what their mini-"society" just does regularly, and so mitigate resentment.

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#283

As a parent, screen time vs no screen time is a fine line that we have to continually renegotiate. Screens can be great, there is so much good information out there that can enrich our lives. I wouldn't go the "no screens ever" route because that's just being a luddite, robbing them of the change to experience, and acquire expertise in, the digital world that they will be interacting with for the rest of their lives.…

Any recommendations on good pedagogical content channels/playlists on youtube?

pre-kindergarden: https://www.youtube.com/@KidsTV123

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#284
post #177
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically correct! The best kind of correct.

Those silly parents, overreacting by dying, losing their jobs, and and not being available 100% during a generation-defining global crisis of confidence.

Those silly governments, making sure the medical system was slowly whittled down from something that was once actually pretty good at taking care of it's citizens to a system that forced/required society to completely grind to a halt from a pandemic because of exterior motives (votes, profits, etc.)

Those silly large media/news companies, not being responsible and considering the results and after-effects of their always-online, constant fear-mongering instead of focusing on delivering factual information and minimizing sensationalism.

Governments and media worked together to cause this mass panic resulting in mass lockdowns and a failure of healthcare systems in the first world. The world should have been ready for this but governments were focusing on profits and ulterior motives over people.

It's a massive shame that so many children will have been mentally affected by the short-term and long-term damage of these relatively short but extremely harmful lockdowns - socially, mentally, and physically - not to mention all the adults whose lives have been irreparably changed by the inactions of their governments. "Society" should be ashamed of itself for causing so much harm but we're all too busy being distracted with perceived differences between each other and trying to survive with the after-effects of a mis-managed pandemic (inflation, food/supply shortages) still running rampant.

I hope when/if I have children that we don't have another pandemic - I don't want the government forcing my children to stay locked in their home from panicked officials and a broken healthcare system.

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#285

For people cooking alone with a kid. How do you entertain them while cooking without screentime? Kid is 16 months. Too old to lie still, and too young to help out in any capacity without getting injured. Edit: Letting them play with utensils gives me about 2-3 minutes.

Is the kid not capable of quietly playing with their toys? Not making any judgement but I truly think that parenting is a two-person job.

Small kids get bored quickly. They play with any given toy the same way I listen to songs: without stopping, until saturation, and then infrequently or not at all. Whether this will last 20 minutes or 2 hours or 2 days - it's kinda random. Even if you give the kid a completely new toy, chances are, they won't get interested immediately. Or even the same day.

Parenting is definitely 2+ person job. At the very least, it's a full-time job for one person.

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#286

And, TV was the baby sitter of the last three generations. The technologies aren't 1:1, but letting your kids passively consume video seems is just as popular as ever.

I think there's one huge difference. TV gets boring, fast. The only time it would remain remotely entertaining was Saturday morning. And even that would get boring relatively quickly. And so you end up turning to other things to entertain yourself, or just be bored. Both of which are probably much better for one's development. YouTube can probably provide entertainment to a child for an arbitrary length of time, on d…

What? Youtube is exactly like television. The only significant difference is that it includes a comment section where people can interact. I don't think that makes it worse.

And it is certainly not analogous to drugs. Trying to compare the stimuli of looking at a screen is entirely different from taking drugs that bypass your senses completely to hijack the neuronal populations which determine the salience and motivation of stimuli.

Stop comparing passive watching through normal senses to drugs. They are not the same. Saying they are the same invites the same kind of highly immoral "war" against "screens" which would necessarily involve violence of the state against people.

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#287
post #259

As a parent, screen time vs no screen time is a fine line that we have to continually renegotiate. Screens can be great, there is so much good information out there that can enrich our lives. I wouldn't go the "no screens ever" route because that's just being a luddite, robbing them of the change to experience, and acquire expertise in, the digital world that they will be interacting with for the rest of their lives.…

Curation is key and there need to be better tools. I strongly limit my kid's screen time, and was pleasantly surprised by the PBS kids video app (and to some extent the games app). I felt very comfortable leaving her alone with that at the designated screen times, as most programs had at least some educational component... or at least had some generic but positive moral lessons. And (key!) she gets personal choice in…

Could you download episodes of those shows (on Netflix), and then disconnect from the internet?

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#288

The way children scream for my tablet time worse than they would for a bottle is terrifying. All those dopamine manipulation techniques made for adults are cleaning up with kids.

The way these adults scream out long disproven neuroscience old wive's tales to justify their beliefs is terrifying.

All these passive stimuli coming through your normal senses are not in any way hijacking or directly manipulating incentive salience or motivation. They're not drugs. Screen displays do not have the properties of drugs no matter what is displayed on them. Arguing that they do is ignorant and dangerous.

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#289
post #259

As a parent, screen time vs no screen time is a fine line that we have to continually renegotiate. Screens can be great, there is so much good information out there that can enrich our lives. I wouldn't go the "no screens ever" route because that's just being a luddite, robbing them of the change to experience, and acquire expertise in, the digital world that they will be interacting with for the rest of their lives.…

Curation is key and there need to be better tools. I strongly limit my kid's screen time, and was pleasantly surprised by the PBS kids video app (and to some extent the games app). I felt very comfortable leaving her alone with that at the designated screen times, as most programs had at least some educational component... or at least had some generic but positive moral lessons. And (key!) she gets personal choice in…

>Curation is key and there need to be better tools.

It's annoying that Youtube, a flagship product for a massive multinational company, has worse curation and discovery than even a low tier porn site.

Whoever is in charge of design/recommendations in YouTube is failing at their job

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#290

YouTube is actively harmful to children, it’s full of crap content, endless ads and the algorithm takes you to the darkest pits in no time at all. You like paw patrol? How about some videos of the pups killing each other? And kids love candy (brain candy) even if it is of no nutritional value - at this age they don’t know better. We found that no amount of supervision or curation by adults keeps the child completely…

We use YouTube premium (so no ads) and there have been no snuff films of the pups. But my kids know not only all of the planets, but all of the dwarf planets. I sure didn't teach them that.
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