Hacker News Reader

Comment by dfsegoat | Hacker News Reader

My kids are on YouTube Kids all the time, and this is terrifying:

> "Someone or something or some combination of people and things is using YouTube to systematically frighten, traumatise, and abuse children, automatically and at scale, and it forces me to question my own beliefs about the internet, at every level"

Something about a lot of the videos I have watched along with my kid has always felt "off" to me. It makes 100% sense that a lot of the content on certain channels might be produced algorithmically, and uploaded en masse.

View on HN

Last week my girls were watching some obviously child-focused YouTube videos, and the YouTube app showed a commercial for the new season of Walking Dead.

Seriously, an ad showing graphic scenes of zombies or other monsters on a video clearly targeted for small children.

I don't even know how to go about complaining in a way that won't be piped to dev/null.

Write to a senator who gets large donations from classic media companies like Time Warner, and ask them to apply the same advertising standards that the FCC uses to the web.

Besides generally controlling screen time, I don't let my kid have free reign in the YT app or website itself. This is one case where a walled garden is actually a good thing.

I always vet them first, then download the videos and play them off our local NAS box or the local device (that way, no ads).

Don't let them watch one minute of it, it's all trash.

What part is trauma/abuse? I don't get it.

Did you read the article and watch the example videos?

Practically speaking, all of it. The prolonged effects of handing an iDevice are damaging to their psyche. Kids aren't in a position to exercise rational decisions on what is and isn't acceptable content. The Youtube for Kids content filtering isn't nearly as advanced as it should be, so parents end up spending an inconsiderable amount of time attempting to filter to no success. These videos, along with those "Daddy finger" songs, adults unwrapping toys and "Ryan's toy review" where the little brat gets all the toys and destroys them are mind-numbingly pointless and damaging (considering the lack of value). At some point, parents need to consider the unknown factors and the possibility of (incidental) trauma.

At least, that's the conclusion I've come to after watching my four-year-old consume some of the above. Counter to that, the reduction of screen time has turned her more empathetic toward her sibling, though I can only state that qualitatively.

I still don't see what actual harm is being done here.

I agree that screen/device time is generally bad, but this goes whether it happens to be YTKids, Netflix or games.

What specifically is "wrong with the internet"? I still don't see the issue here.

I think the author's implication is the 'wrongness' is the development of an ecosystem which encourages the creation of sadistic content marketed to children.

Did you watch the video where a series of marvel heroes were captured and buried up to their necks in sand? These videos are nightmare fuel for children.

The violence in the superhero video I agree (esp. with the slapstick music) is a bit disturbing. Same with the gorilla daddy finger.

So what is the immediate solution for parents? Block/uninstall YTKids?

In another comment someone said that YTKids has an option to disable related videos, that could be a good start.

Block. If not, then filter the content though I can tell you their content blocking algo is terrible at blocking new content so you end up in a game of cat & mouse.

Yes. Block it. Turn it off. Try handing them crayons and paper. YTKids is a product begging for your time and attention and that of your kids. It sucks and beyond that may be damaging so stop buying it (with your kid’s attention). Turn it off.

Yup. Get video apps from actual companies that have at least a semblance of QC.

PBS kids, Disney Jr, Nick Jr.

Never let your kids browse the open internet without supervision. Create curated playlists that they can watch when you aren't able to devote 100% of your time to their supervision but still want to occupy their time with videos

YouTube has tons of great videos that are awesome for watching with children. My 8-year-old loves the PBS Digital Studios series like Eons and It's Okay to Be Smart, and Crash Course.

Even I like some of the better nursery rhyme videos in foreign languages, for my target language. I hadn't understood that even the good channels repackage their materials into different compilations for the ad views. But for us YouTube is something that is on the TV in the living room and we can all see and agree on the videos we watch. Still it's hard to filter out the filthy language, weirdness, and pointless cruelty.

The problem the author identified exists in other parts of the kid Internet. With Web-based games, sites are aggregating weird and disturbing games with the OK or just junky ones, and kids are sharing these sites with each other.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com