Maintaining a safe online environment for your kids can seem overwhelming. Every month, nearly 2 billion users log into YouTube, which means several billion YouTube videos and hundreds of them uploaded every minute. So, How should we prevent our kids from finding violent, sexual, manipulative, and hateful content on YouTube (often accidentally)?
In addition to a dedicated YouTube Kids app, YouTube offers a "Restricted Mode" on traditional YouTube. Nevertheless, several reports have shown that a tremendous amount of offensive, violent, and disturbing material is overlooked by YouTube's automated filters every year.
There is an even greater worry that many of these videos target young children who are unfamiliar with search engine optimization and are marketed using popular characters.
YouTube's filters aren't enough to comply with this, which is why you shouldn't rely on them alone. You can still use some incredibly simple techniques to protect your kids from millions of inappropriate content that hinder their childhood.
What Can Parents Do To Ensure YouTube Is Safe For Their Kids?
YouTube is a huge site, so you need to understand its size to understand why keeping kids safe on the site is hard. Researchers report that YouTube receives over 30,000 hours of video uploads per hour and that over 2 billion people log in every month.
You will find it hard to comprehend the sheer scale of YouTube, but one thing is certain. There are all types of videos on the platform, with content producers vying for views to eventually earn revenue from advertising. The creators pump out thousands of video clips of Elsa from Frozen having sex with Spider-Man if people click on those videos, and some of those videos are sure to slip past YouTube's algorithm.
YouTube's automatic filters cannot guarantee the safety of the videos' content in any way, just as a single net can't catch all fish in the ocean.
Keep an eye on your children's YouTube usage.
If you're having trouble preventing your kids from watching unsafe content, you can watch YouTube together.
It's reasonable to ask your kids to turn up the volume enough so you're able to hear them if you're a busy parent. YouTube Kids lets you watch what your children have watched by placing it in the Watch It Again section or the History section on normal YouTube.
Ensure They Use YouTube Kids
Kids can access YouTube Kids via mobile apps or online. To sign up for a YouTube Kids account, use your YouTube/Google account, or you can just browse the website without making a profile. You can control which channels your child is allowed to view, make curated playlists, and monitor their YouTube activity by creating a profile for them.
You Should Disable Search
Children won't enjoy it, but it's a great tool for young kids. Search will no longer be available on YouTube Kids, which means your child will only be able to access approved content by YouTube's human moderators. This significantly reduces the amount of harmful content your child can access.
Disabling Search brings many drawbacks, including the fact that kids have a much harder time finding what they are looking for (they can't search! ), and they can't find a lot of the content they are looking for. But, it will help keep them off the offensive, vulgar, and violent content; they must not be looking at this age.
Use Avosmart - A Parental Control App
Even if your kids are just browsing YouTube with Restricted Mode on, automated YouTube filters may not be able to block all of the harmful content. So the need for a third-party parental app arises. These apps not only block the offensive content but also can block the channel it is coming from. Thus downloading Avosmart can provide an additional layer of protection on YouTube and keep your kids away from pato streamers who can damage their brains. YouTube usage can be tracked and filtered on the site and app using Avosmart.
Discuss internet usage with Your Kids
YouTube is a concern for parents, but kids seem not to understand the concerns. It is really important for kids to have conversations about YouTube content, according to child psychologists and advertising watchdogs. If you show your kids unboxing videos, letting them know more kids don't open toys every day (or that they're being paid to do so) can help them have a greater appreciation for the content.
Our kids need to feel free to tell us how they feel about what they see online, so we should keep our lines of communication open with them. They worry they'll get in trouble if they tell their parents about their disturbing experiences.
Are There Any YouTube Built-in Parental Controls?
Yes, there is a YouTube restricted mode that helps filter out a huge range of inappropriate and adult content. But, it is not proven to be that effective as YouTube Kids App.
Your Kids Can Come Across Inappropriate Content On YouTube Kids Too?
That is true, unfortunately. There's no way for YouTube algorithms to block all of the inappropriate content, even though YouTube Kids filters a lot of content. Every minute, 500+ hours of content is uploaded to YouTube.
That is why you need a third-party parental app like Avosmart that offers great support and a unique panel for parents to monitor all the YouTube activities.