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YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers

bbc.com

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Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers

#201

Post by oceanghost »

detaro wrote: post #157
oceanghost wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is infuriating as a parent. My daughter likes certain videos, and I have to write down the titles of her favorite videos to search for them every time she asks for them. (We watch YouTube on an nvidia shield). I honestly don't understand how this restriction makes sense, it all seems punitive.

At least on the web version, funnily enough you can do add them to a playlist. If you do it from the search results list, not the video permalink. You could also try if an alternative YouTube client like NewPipe works on the Shield, and brings more useful bookmarking features? (Another option would be downloading them, again with NewPipe or on a PC, and keeping the files somewhere)

I was not aware of Newpipe, I will look into that. Thank you.

Your advice is eminently practical. I already have a PLEX server, I could just youtube-dl the videos/channels she likes.

Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers

#202

Post by MaxLeiter »

ripply wrote: post #134
2pEXgD0fZ5cF wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people at Google/Youtube really make it hard for quality content to succeed most of the time and their beloved algorithms mostly just boil down to "If a person clicks X, bombard them with as much things as close to X as possible from now on". (Also their obsession with "engagement" which translates to outrage, but I hope this is less relevant in Youtube Kids...) The danger for kids also stems from this in my opin…

I've noticed that its basically impossible for Youtube to recommend me anything outside the bubble it has assigned me. I end up using guest accounts to find new content but even that doesn't work too well (the guest account also ends up in its own bubble) and generally only recommends the most popular videos in a region so I even switch regions sometimes.

Is this YouTube specific? I often feel stuck in a bubble

Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers

#203

Post by godmode2019 »

My kid (2) stumbled across this video recommended.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KHXG_tiG4Mg

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hK3Shnxmbmk

It was not this exact videos, but it was very similar and in the description it said fun for kids, kids shows pepper pig.

They were trying to show todlers horror content. It made me sick to think someone thought this was funny.

These videos are not the problem it was other people reuploading similar content edited optimising for children traffic.

Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers

#204

Post by the-rc »

ModernMech wrote: post #107
IAmWorried wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am I the only one who doesn't see what's so creepy about this? It's a bunch of colors, and cars being dipped into the colors, with dumb music and sfx. Is it really so harmful? Honestly curious as I don't have kids of my own, so not sure.

This video needs to be taken down immediately. For one, it normalizes a bloated police apparatus. The concept of a Ferrari police car is an abomination. Secondly, it presents a distorted view of fluid dynamics, Newtonian physics, and material science. Why does the paint move like that? Why is the reflective car absorbing paint like a sponge? Why doesn't the car follow a ballistic trajectory? Kids need to be protected…

Uh, I know you're kidding, but a Lamborghini police car is totally a thing, somewhere: https://www.thedrive.com/news/37625/italian-police-use-lambo...

Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers

#205

Post by retrac »

nerdponx wrote: post #164
corysama wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This stuff doesn't require corporate conspiracies. Imagine being a tech-literate person in some very poor country. You discover that if you churn out Flash videos of pregnant Spiderman pulling thorns out of a kitten's paws while spiders crawl down the walls and Elsa is vomiting in the background, you can make a pretty good living for your area without leaving your apartment. You might object to the idea. But, it only…

Is this actually a real video?

I could believe it. There was one that went around enough to make the news a few years ago. Peppa Pig goes to the dentist. Starts off as you might expect if it were wholesome. Then it begins. Everything is in constantly shifting perspective. A giant syringe comes out. The shadows grow long. Peppa Pig then has her teeth pulled out. The audio has children crying, but not closely synced to the video.

My take was that it was crafted to be optimally engaging to a child of about four years of age. With no other purpose. Maybe even semi-automatically generated. The subject matter is a common fear of children. The video does not have enough to push it quite over the edge to any horror/revulsion response. Any particular frame would not be too out of place in a children's cartoon. As an adult, it disturbs mostly when you realize what's going on behind it conceptually.

Obviously worked as intended, given how many views it got. https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-39381889

Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers

#206

Post by didgeoridoo »

drewcon wrote: post #21

Can confirm. There is a strain of video (below) on there that is just like perceptual candy to kids. And there are LOADS of these videos in slightly different versions. My own anecdote: Our 2 year old found these videos (3 years ago): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7IsNFDtG4U&list=PLHZrFxrJbt... At first we were like "seems fine, colors and shapes...keeps him engaged". After a month or two he could just stare slack…

With my 1 year old, we used YT Kids videos in the hospital in place of benzos during central line dressing changes (a relatively painless but annoying and time-consuming procedure that they need to remain very still for).

The slack-jaw lobotomized YT Kids look is honestly scarier than the benzo loopies. I think we’re done with it.

Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers

#207

Post by hahajk »

drewcon wrote: post #21

Can confirm. There is a strain of video (below) on there that is just like perceptual candy to kids. And there are LOADS of these videos in slightly different versions. My own anecdote: Our 2 year old found these videos (3 years ago): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7IsNFDtG4U&list=PLHZrFxrJbt... At first we were like "seems fine, colors and shapes...keeps him engaged". After a month or two he could just stare slack…

I thought you were going to link to one of those “egg opening” videos. They’re the reason I don’t turn on youtube. The terrible thing is that one of them made it on to Netflix... now I have to get rid of Netflix because its all she’ll watch if she sees its icon. I wish there was a way to block specific shows on Netflix.

Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers

#208

Post by bashmelek »

hypertele-Xii wrote: post #192
_0ffh wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I liberally use the "Not interested" and "Don't recommend channel" options in the menu. Works okay for me.

These options are literally the only way for me to even get new recommendations. YouTube "helpfully" fills my recommendations with videos I've already watched, videos from channels I'm already subscribed to and watched, its own "mix" playlists of songs I listen to, and totally random "topics" it thinks I'm interested in. I have to "Don't recommend" every channel I subscribe to and "Not interested" every video I click…

There's also the option of going into your Youtube history and deleting things from it. More than once I've clicked on something out of curiosity and regretted it, only to have youtube recommend more of the same, but removing the original videos that caused it from my history seemed to do the trick. My theory is that some video categories have a highly addictive nature to certain groups of people. Youtube's algorithm picks up on this, and notes that people who watch x are likely to want to watch y and z etc. It could be conspiracy videos, pickup artist things, young women, or something feeding off of an insecurity. The algorithm doesn't care, but it can pick up on these patterns of viewership and entices you with more.

Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers

#209

Post by smabie »

ASalazarMX wrote: post #108
plank_time wrote: post #36

My kid had a great experience with YouTube kids. He learned so much from it, it shocked me. At one point he memorized all the presidents and very detailed minutiae about the dwarf planets, most I had never heard of. My friends had a worse experience. Their daughter started watching cosplay videos where actors would dress up like Elsa and the Joker, and the Joker would kidnap Elsa and tie her up. Borderline porn and p…

> Then she got fixated on makeup videos and they couldn’t stop her from watching those. If the kid has the last word on what she watches, the parents have their own problems. A family is more like a monarchy than a democracy, children can't outvote parents.

I mean, sure they can. They just make the parents miserable until the parents comply.

Re: YouTube Kids a “vapid wasteland” say US lawmakers

#210

Post by ashtonkem »

_0ffh wrote: post #176
dghughes wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And lord help you if you accidentally click on some drivel that's suggested. It'll take years of ignoring it before it and similar videos are no longer suggested.

I liberally use the "Not interested" and "Don't recommend channel" options in the menu. Works okay for me.

I keep using them on this one set of day trading ads and they keep showing the exact same ad to me.
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