One University of Alberta researcher says YouTube may not be the best option when it comes to children’s entertainment.
David Brake spoke on the Alberta Morning News about how, with the introduction of tablets and laptops, YouTube is becoming more popular among parents.
While there is plenty of kid-friendly content on the platform, it’s less secure than more traditional forms of media like television networks.
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“YouTube, because it’s online — and crucially, because it has vast amounts of video passing through it at any time — is under much less strict controls,” explained Brake.
Because of the way the search function works on YouTube, it’s easy for children to accidentally stumble across a video that may have inappropriate content. This could be something relatively innocent, like a satire of children’s programming, or something more scarring such as violence.
Brake added that if your child does see something they shouldn’t have, communication is key to making sure they process it properly and it can be avoided in the future.
“Rather than punishing them for seeing something they shouldn’t have, it’s important to be open and listen to the child,” he said. “Say ‘how is it you came across that?’ And explain to them that sometimes, they can run across things and it’s not necessarily their fault.”
YouTube recently launched a more regulated version of the site called YouTube Kids. Brake explained that despite being a better option, it’s still got some issues.
“Kids who used to have the freedom of going to YouTube and typing in the things that interest them will quickly find that frustrating if they’re older than three or four,” he explained. “They’ll want to make their own explorations.”
Brake recommends using more traditional forms of media and their corresponding apps.
“They don’t have as deep a collection of content, but all the content you’ll find through these closed off apps are things that have been produced specially for kids,” he said.
This could include apps associated with cable networks, or even Netflix — whose kid-friendly platform is fully regulated.