How safe are young YouTube-ers?
On February 23, the YouTube for kids app was launched in hopes of preventing kids from wandering into adult material while searching for videos.
March 5, 2015
One minute you’re searching funny YouTube videos of those screaming goats that no one can resist, then you’re suggested to watch something totally unrelated the next. These suggested videos aren’t always appropriate either.
Now, put your niece, nephew, younger brother, sister, or even child in your shoes. The suggested items in the side bar sometimes feature inappropriate images or videos. Without your knowledge, this younger child might click on something you don’t approve of them watching or seeing.
With today’s technology and advancements, kids and even adults will actually make their own videos to go on YouTube. As you can assume, the humor varies from Spongebob humor to Family Guy humor.
“My seven year old loves watching American Girl Doll videos that people create, and I worry that she will click on a video that looks as though it’s appropriate but it’s not,” said Spanish teacher Señora Smith.
How can we prevent young eyes and ears from being violated with the horrors of YouTube videos? We have an answer.
On February 23, YouTube Kids was launched to prevent situations like this. It is just like regular YouTube. It has all the features like searching and watching videos of your choice. The difference? It restricts the videos available. None of that advertisement information will pop up and you don’t have to worry about videos being dubbed over with unacceptable language.
Normally, even if you search something as innocent as a little kid’s show, you’ll still find something to make you question the human thought process. For instance, there are many little kid shows available on YouTube that are dubbed over to make the character swear and say inappropriate comments.
Physical education teacher Mr. Lovrich likes to keep track of what his oldest daughter is doing when she gets online and searches for different things.
“I like to be there when she is online just in case something comes up that she should not be reading or looking at, but it is tough to be there all the time.
“Misspelling a common word can bring up lots of sites that aren’t kid appropriate,” Lovrich said, “sometimes technology can be great, but it takes a lot of supervision on the parents’ part.”
YouTube for kids attempts to answer these issues, providing only video choices that have been filtered and approved for consumption by children.
YouTube is wonderful but YouTube Kids is a great idea for younger children. It’s just another way to monitor what the children watch.
