Bigger problem is the parents who let their children watch youtube or whatever way too much.
YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers
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Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers
#12It's basically correct, there's very little of value on YT kids. It's junk food ADHD content, continuously. Just crappy content like ripoff songs and kids playing with toys, a giant toy advert. My little one used to go nuts when I turned it off. I've had to get rid of it in my house. Standard YT has some interesting channels that you can learn a lot from, but it's worth it for me to PiHole anything youtube anyway. No…
Letting your kid browse algorithmically generated content is not wise :P If I'm vulnerable to stupid clickbait, can't imagine how badly children can be manipulated.
Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers
#13YouTube is still a great place. And yes, it has a multitude of problems, but personally I don't believe it's YouTube's job to make it a completely safe space for kids. Just like with television, it's a parent/guardian's role to parent their kids and set boundaries.
And yet it's apparent that many, perhaps the majority, of parents fail to do a decent job of that. If most of society will exercise minimal discernment in media consumption (and in their children's media consumption), at some point we should consider how we can make higher-quality (i.e. more edifying/educational) children's content easier to access than lower-quality content.
Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers
#14We need government funded programming that's educational on youtube kids.
Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers
#15Curated and at least semi-professionally produced content, like PBS kids, is infinitely better in terms of providing consistently good content. I think YouTube is at its heart fundamentally incompatible with providing only high quality enriching content. Everyone being able to make content means there are gems that would never otherwise get made, and also vast wastelands of garbage to sort through, or get dumped into…
Yeah I mix Youtube Kids with PBS with good success, the key I found is to just watch it with them.
Compared to what I grew up on cable with manipulative ads YouTube Kids isn't even close to that level, but then again I make a point to pay attention to the content on there.
I think YouTube has and does provide high quality content, it's the filtering that's the tough part.
Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers
#16I would agree with the assessment, but isn't your typical kids TV channel just as vapid? Are US lawmakers worried about the ads and commercialism we bombard our children with on conventional television?
Depends on the channel.
We have a dedicated public television channel where I am and the content is significantly better than YouTube: https://pbskids.org/
My kids will tell me about history and science that they pick up from those shows.
I don't think I've ever heard anything from them that I liked when it came to YouTube content.
Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers
#17YouTube is still a great place. And yes, it has a multitude of problems, but personally I don't believe it's YouTube's job to make it a completely safe space for kids. Just like with television, it's a parent/guardian's role to parent their kids and set boundaries.
> I don't believe it's YouTube's job to make it a completely safe space for kids I would say it is if the product is literally YouTube Kids... [1] [1] https://www.youtubekids.com
And they did, it's just that something so "safe" is just completely bland and useless.
Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers
#18Bigger problem is the parents who let their children watch youtube or whatever way too much.
I'm curious of the long term effects.
Like you, I also think it's a disgrace. I had a friend who to me basically seemed like they didn't like dealing with kids, so just gave her daughter a tablet she was glued to at all times. I mean, young, I don't remember the age now but less than 2? She never made eye contact or any noise, just messing with the tablet. I can't help but think there's going to be a whole generation of socially broken kids. But, here's hoping I'm wrong.
Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers
#19I would agree with the assessment, but isn't your typical kids TV channel just as vapid? Are US lawmakers worried about the ads and commercialism we bombard our children with on conventional television?
Nrk in Norway has an amazing kids channel with no ads. Also on demand option with apps that can age restrict content.
Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers
#20Curated and at least semi-professionally produced content, like PBS kids, is infinitely better in terms of providing consistently good content. I think YouTube is at its heart fundamentally incompatible with providing only high quality enriching content. Everyone being able to make content means there are gems that would never otherwise get made, and also vast wastelands of garbage to sort through, or get dumped into…
PBS Kids is made by people optimizing for quality content.
YT Kids is made by people optimizing for marketing dollars.