Earlier quoted context omitted.
True, Transformers, He-Man and My Little Pony were just toy ads in cartoon form, but they were mostly honest about it. Youtube influencers form a "friendship" with the audience and are more sneaky/non-obvious about the stuff they're advertising, masking it as a "review" or something else. Just having a YT influencer play a game is a HUGE boost in sales.
My Little Pony has pretty serious storylines and developed characters. There is a reason why that particular show had rather full on fandom.
YouTube has become the world's nanny
391–400 of 403 posts
Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny
#392Earlier quoted context omitted.
9-11 To be clear, we were strict up until the pandemic when we let things slide. Then all the friends were on messenger and if that's the only source of socializing, well ok. We didn't have YT on the tablet, but through ad clicking she discovered it would sometimes open in the browser, then she just figured out how the browser works. I'd say there was close to a year of virtually unfettered access, up to 2 hours a da…
I think if a 9 to 11 year old doesn't understand that there's a web browser already, and how it differs from the YouTube app, you've failed to teach your kids vital information, and are putting them at risk. You're leaving them defenseless under the guise of keeping them safe. You shouldn't have given them a tablet in the first place until they understand basic things like that. Ultimately, as you have learned, your…
I'm not going to presume your age but at least when I was growing up, the internet was more like a giant flea market: you go in, and yes there could be things that might be bad or useless or creepy or diddly, and you really learn where the quality stuff is by poking around. Internet then was very analogous to going out into the real world where you learn risk through experience and can walk away. With the walled gardens we have today?... it's more like dropping an open kilo of cocaine in front your kid, saying "you can snort it, smoke it, shove it under a toenail, put it on your wee-wee and it will make you feel good for a bit, but then really, really, really bad. So be careful" then turning on a fan pointed in their direction as you walk out of the room... Everyone working on user engagement at FB, TikTok, Insta and the rest, they know how to keep you on with dopamine hits. The second a kid logs in, the hyperoptimization forces the most addictive, useless crap in their suggestions or feed no matter what their search is, such as the box opening junk, or mash-ups that don't have anything but popular characters giggling for 2 minutes, and it gets weird in a hurry [0]. And no matter how hard you try, there are always more suggestions that take you into a corner of dopamine hits than quality information, and it's very difficult to tell the difference. It's unavoidable, and to say "just let them learn the dangers" just tells me you need to observe a kid while they navigate (it always ends in a sinkhole) or one who just put the tablet down. I'm not going to presume your life experience, but I know someone who's jonesing for a hit when I see one.
I highly recommend you try setting up fake child accounts (minimum age, or if you want the full experience, set up a Family Link and say you're 8) on YouTube, TikTok, and the rest. There is no chance for a learning curve, there is no chance for evaluation. It's just immediate click-and-addict.
These are the new cigarette companies and I'm treating them as such. In my case, we're learning as we go along. So she can use the laptop for writing (podcast scripts, stories and essays), research for school and any activities/hobby with one of us in the room to help with tips and, as we put it, help to make sure the algorithm doesn't short-circuit her brain), and introduce her to coding by making her own Roblox games (played locally). The tablet is for listening to podcasts and recording her own episodes/thoughts and there are good drawing apps.
As to how we're going to approach things moving forward... Awareness is key but at least with drugs you can say no and not ingest. When she's in high school, just saying no is probably not a viable option, so we're still figuring out and trying to learn what works for others.
[0] Video is 5 years old, and the weirder did is probably gone, but the gaming the algo is still valid https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LKp2gikIkD8
Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny
#393As 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.…
The surprise egg thing is a thing almost a cultural thing and it does pass. Kids watch those videos up to about age 5. You find these eggs in Target and Walmart now too so you end up with a junk drawer of fidgets. All the kids end up trading fidgets for awhile as well. Lots of tears but they learn to negotiate. If you are lucky you might skip Pokemon.
They then move on to watching Minecraft and Roblox videos. I let my kids facetime and play roblox with their friends at the same time.
Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny
#394Happy to say that I am a father of four and have no clue what CoComelon is. Our solution to "screen time" has been an hour of Sonic or Kirby on the weekend and educational-only videos during the week which have something to do with whatever they are talking about or learning that day. For example, our kitchen has a number of large windows and the birds love to eat in front of it. My five year old has become obsessed…
Playing games at grade school age - is that a waste?
Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny
#395Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
"Designated screen time" makes my stomach curl. That's a surefire way to make sure a kid who has interest never develops any skills and resents you for ruining a career opportunity later down the road (I know from experience). I find it odd that most people in this thread are equating "screen time" to "watching videos". My parents were like that, they never understood that mucking around in OSes and writing crappy so…
Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny
#396Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was in the same exact boat as you. If you have uBlock origin, you can add these custom filters to remove shorts: https://ronangelo.com/how-to-hide-shorts-videos-on-youtube/ I have not missed them one bit, nor had any desire to unblock them. Like you, I would mindlessly watch them in between tasks at work, and felt duller and worse for it every time my little binge ended. I also got a dumbphone, which I honestly lov…
Thanks. Good tip for desktop, will install. But the main vector for me is my phone. Which dumbphone did you pick up?
Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny
#397Earlier quoted context omitted.
Directly modifying incentive salience via drugs is different than normal environmental stimuli through normal sense perceptions. They require different responses from society and parroting falsehoods like you and others are doing is dangerous. You've already seen what the "drug war" has justified. Bringing that kind of response in to deal with normal aspects of living is wrong. The youtube is dangerous crowd has abou…
Blah blah blah. This is all nonsense and has nothing to do with the original comment.
Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny
#398Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think if a 9 to 11 year old doesn't understand that there's a web browser already, and how it differs from the YouTube app, you've failed to teach your kids vital information, and are putting them at risk. You're leaving them defenseless under the guise of keeping them safe. You shouldn't have given them a tablet in the first place until they understand basic things like that. Ultimately, as you have learned, your…
I get what you're saying, but "the internet" has evolved alot. Even knowing the dangers that are present, and how marketers try to short-circuit your brain etc etc (which we did do, I'm very clear with my kids that every law needs an explanation and they are provided with explanations) I think 13 is still too young to be left alone. Really I don't believe there is a minimum age, it's more who can resist addictive beh…
Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny
#399Earlier quoted context omitted.
Frankly, kids want what you have. If it's bad, don't use it yourself! Having kids was the final trigger to make me get rid of my smartphone, although I admit this is an extreme step.
One of the best things my wife and I did was have a "no phones at the table" rule for ourselves long before our kids were of an age to have a phone. It's made enforcing that rule on our teenagers a complete non-issue now.
What's interesting is the defensiveness people express when they are are called up on a social behaviour which would be completely unacceptable and weird a few years ago.
Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny
#400Happy to say that I am a father of four and have no clue what CoComelon is. Our solution to "screen time" has been an hour of Sonic or Kirby on the weekend and educational-only videos during the week which have something to do with whatever they are talking about or learning that day. For example, our kitchen has a number of large windows and the birds love to eat in front of it. My five year old has become obsessed…
Playing games at grade school age - is that a waste?