YouTube's New "Supervised" Experience: Bridging the Gap for Older Kids
YouTube Believes It Has Solved the Puzzle of Suitable Content for Nine-Year-Olds
YouTube is taking a step towards merging their Kids app with the main platform, introducing a new "supervised" experience for pre-teens and teenagers. This move is designed to cater to parents whose kids are growing out of the Kids app but still need a level of parental guidance.
How it Works
To get started, parents need to:1. Log in to YouTube: Utilize a Google Account to access the YouTube app or website.2. Find Parent Settings: Navigate to Settings > Parent Settings.3. Select the Child: Choose the child for whom you want to set up the supervised experience.4. Pick Content Categories: Choose from three categories: - Explore: Suitable for kids aged 9 and up, offering a limited selection of videos. - Explore More: Suitable for teenagers aged 13 and up, with a broader range of content. - Most of YouTube: Contains nearly all content except age-restricted videos, ideal for older teens.
Issues and Concerns
Although this feature seems promising, it's not without its challenges:
- Automated Filters: While YouTube updates its filters regularly, they're automated which means they may not always catch inappropriate content.
- Limited Monitoring: Unlike some third-party apps, YouTube's built-in parental controls don't provide detailed activity reports or allow parents to see what their children are searching for.
- Requires Active Parental Involvement: The effectiveness of the supervised experience depends on parents actively managing and updating settings, which can be time-consuming.
- Content Quality: Ensuring that all content is suitable and enriching can be challenging, despite efforts like the Youth Digital Wellbeing Initiative.
- Technical Limitations: Implementing and maintaining these features in areas with limited internet connectivity might pose challenges.
Regardless, this middle ground between YouTube Kids and the general YouTube platform could be a welcome addition, even if it's not a perfect solution. After all, YouTube acknowledges that their systems will continue to evolve and make mistakes [2].
- Recognizing the upcoming technological advancements, YouTube gave an announcement about their new initiative to regulate content more adequately for children aging from nine to nineteen.
- Under the new "supervised" experience, parents will find it essential to log into YouTube, navigate to the Parent Settings, select their child, and choose from three content categories based on the child's age range.
- In the face of criticisms about potential limitations, such as inadequate filtering, auditing, and time-consuming management, YouTube currently stands committed to refining and enhancing its features continually.
- As a proactive step towards ensuring a safer digital environment, tech giants like YouTube could collaborate with policymakers to establish and enforce stricter regulations on the creation and distribution of content catering to children on platforms like YouTube.
