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Comment by shezi | Hacker News Reader

Maybe the problem isn't Netflix and Youtube, maybe the problem is letting them watch for 4 hours? And unsupervised, too. It sounds to me like it's a bit like letting your children run free in a candy store for hours and then wondering why they ate so much.

I try to teach my kids that these things are tools: we want to know how something works --> there's definitely a video on that --> we found out and turn it off again. And as with any tool, you can use them to become better or to hurt yourself.

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With discipline, that is certainly doable, but YouTube is designed to tempt you down the rabbit hole. They want to maximize the amount of time you spend on their website.

You go to YouTube and order a salad. When you're done with the salad, they put a donut in front of you. When you finish that donut, they immediately put another donut in front of you.

Adults should be able to reject those temptations, but YouTube doesn't make it easy.

> They want to maximize the amount of time you spend on their website.

Is that true for YouTube kids app too? I thought you could put timers using parental settings. When the timer goes off, it will lock the device. And, some N minutes before, it would show a warning as well.

That seems way better than state of the art (dumping kids in front of TV or video game consoles etc.)

We tried the timer, but it wasn't so good for a program to suddenly cut off in the middle. I know I wouldn't be happy either if something I was into watching would just suddenly end. Now we let our kid watch about half an hour of YouTube a day, but try to let him stop at a natural place, such as the end of the video.

The only thing I really want is for foreign language videos not to appear in the list of suggested videos. Sometimes he gets trapped happily watching videos in Russian.

> Maybe the problem isn't Netflix and Youtube, maybe the problem is letting them watch for 4 hours?

I actually think the problem is specifically binge watching services like Netflix and services with very variable quality of content like YouTube.

Whilst it’s not ideal, as a kid I’d watch the BBC children’s afternoon segment from 3 till 6 after school and whilst 3 hours of TV is unlikely to have been great for me, I received a variety of programming, some ok and some great. My problem with Netflix and YouTube is a child can binge watch a whole season of average content without any variety whatsoever. It’s not just a question of quality which I’m raising but quantity of the same show episode after episode.

As far as teaching kids sure, by all means we should teach them to moderate themselves but as a 34 year old I find it takes discipline and will power to regulate myself, what hope does a toddler or infant have when faced with video services which are designed to encourage consumption?

  Maybe the problem isn't Netflix and Youtube, maybe
  the problem is letting them watch for 4 hours?

Isn't your assertion "Youtube isn't a problem so long as you don't watch for 4 hours" and leonroy's that "If you want something to watch for 4 hours, Youtube is a problem" just the same statement worded in different ways?

I would say no, the point is that there's _nothing_ that's good to be watched for 4 hours

Something like Sesame Street might be good. My problem with YouTube is it creates feedback loops where if you like something you seek out more of it, but with a near infinite range of topics. Throw an underdeveloped mind in there who is using basic stimulus to work out what is good and bad and who knows what will happen.

Wouldn't surprise me if that feedback loop was damaging even for many adults, but at least they are responsible and already have some grasp of how the world should work.

As others have said, watching 4 hours of anything might be problematic.

However, my point is this: different things require different amounts of moderation. Candy all day is probably worse than carrots all day. In moderation, candy is great. Same as YouTube.

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