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YouTube has become the world's nanny

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Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#271
post #60

To my grandparents / great grandparents generation at the time (70/80's) TV has become the world's nanny would have generated all the same comments as this. If you watched tv - the idiotbox - for more than 15 minutes your eyes would go square.

What if there was some truth to that, and YouTube was 10x worse?

Interesting. It is entirely possible.

For it to be the case I would expect to see a split in the population on many metrics, especially around education, dividing the with / without TV / YouTube groups.

Presumably the adverse effects would overcome the dominant factor which I assume is socioeconomic.

As for the making your eyes go square - I doubt youtube has any more effect that the old tube tv! Its also believed that reading books gives you bad eyesight ...

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Drinking alcohol doesn't necessarily mean you will go louder and dumber. You know, like youtube, there are limits.

You don't notice it as an adult but kids are very observant. You impair yourself with any amount of alcohol.

Well I know that I have been a non drinker until the age of 27 and I still often don't feel the need to drink alcohol even in a social event especially if I have to drive (better to say I don't drink tonight than starting and count your consumption). I could and still definitely observe it on long family dinners. But it depends a lot on the people tolerance and the kind of drinks. There are worlds of difference between a 4% of alcohol beer and a 6.5% one if you have a pint.

My mother has always been laughing stupidly with a single glass of wine, my father could drink 3 before you notice. Same when I am not drinking and my partner have a beer. She won't speak louder or do act differently after 1 or 2 light beers. But in her case the line is really thin between the virtually unnoticeable state, the moment you realize she should stop drinking and the moment she is completely wasted or start feeling bad, especially if the drinks are stronger. On other people it is more gradual.

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#273
post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> And now you have become an antagonist. A rule maker to be subverted. Good, then you can teach them to subvert you productively. Keep the tablet locked down, but put an unlocked Linux machine in the house and tell them they can watch whatever they want in Firefox. Once they've done that, make them launch Firefox from the command line. Once that's mastered, make them connect to the wifi manually. Then make them start…

Incredibly based

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#274
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We did try Youtube Kids at one point, but it was just 99% toy ads masquerading as authentic content. To be fair, this description fits a lot of regular (non-kids) platforms too.

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.

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#275
As a parent of an almost 2 year old (tomorrow!), I feel a bit worried of what is yet to come. I notice kids around me (family, kids of friends) ranging 3 to 10+ mostly consume YouTube, TikTok, ... on a daily basis and when they do, they're totally isolated from what happens around them. They get feeded ad after ad, watching teenagers doing odd dances, minecraft video's, ... Rarely something of pedagogical value. Hope I can do better, time will tell. Tips are welcome though.

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#276
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…

Torrent the shows you want her to see and setup Jellyfin server. I run one on a Xeon SOC from 2016, but i would be surprised if a Raspberry Pi 4 couldn't handle the transcoding.

Install Jellyfin app on a tablet, you just built a curated version of Netflix.

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#277
post #70

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…

Thanks for that comparison. I have never truly experienced addiction without losing self control for whatever reason. I can start and stop smoking, drugs never took a hold. I feel the pull for sure, but am able to stop.

But I lose several hours a day to YouTube. Ever since Shorts made their way into my life, I start and end most days with an hour of watching bullshit I don't even like. And before I open it I tell myself "don't.. this is that moment" and do it anyway. I usually stop a session due to real life commitments or battery life.

Deleted the app but use browser. I've considered getting a dumb phone. I've never hated something that my body loves so much

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#278
post #29

Nope, nope nope. My kid is 10 and still doesn't know a single Youtuber by name and doesn't really watch Youtube. We did try Youtube Kids at one point, but it was just 99% toy ads masquerading as authentic content. Netflix has a pretty good age limiter and well produced TV-shows. Disney+ has Bluey and a ton of other content. AppleTV+ has a few good ones too, but not as much as the two big ones. Paying the few coins fo…

but is there any better alternative?

Nothing is perfect.

Amazon Kids+ is a huge step up from YouTube, with curation and categorized time limits. They sell Kindle Fire hardware with a year's subscription included.

https://www.amazon.com/ftu/home

ABCmouse advertises a lot, which is inversely correlated with effectiveness in my experience.

https://www.abcmouse.com

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learning to swim young can be done anywhere though that has a public pool.

Yes, that's true and such pools are ubiquitous in Australia. The town I grew up in, 200km from the ocean, population 4,500, had a full Olympic size 50m pool. It was just one of the local amenities. We had school swimming carnivals where everyone was expected to swim in at least one 50m race. I don't think the same access to pools is true in other more temperate climates, at least not from my experience living in Euro…

Lived in UK and Australia and both have a decent amount of pools and kids programs. In the UK state high schools often had pools even in not so great areas.

Obviously yeah skiing is insanely more expensive to operate and there would be less of it due to geography.

What limits swimming in other countries has to be culture not the availability of concrete, water and chlorine production needed to allow people to swim anywhere.

Re: YouTube has become the world's nanny

#280
post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You never had a beer at a restaurant?

No. I find the concept of drinking beer with a meal disgusting on multiple levels. As a kid I hated when adults were drinking alcohol in my presence. They got even louder and dumber than usual after drinking.

It looks like you have unresolved issues (trauma?) from being around alcoholics or people with lack of self control. But I don't. One beer with a meal is not "disgusting" and does not significantly impair an adult either.
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