Kids & YouTube
Do your kids watch YouTube videos? Do you take any precautions?
I was going to start this post by saying that YouTube totally owns, but in fear of embarrassing my son, I’ll simply say that YouTube is extremely popular, receiving over – says in her best Dr. Evil voice – 1 billion video views each day.
I don’t know what percentage of these views come from kids, but I’m sure it’s a lot. My son and his friends are always searching for and watching all sorts of videos on YouTube and I’m certain their love for the video sharing website is not unique. They also like to take dorky videos (sorry mini-me, but they really are crap!) with their digital cameras and post them on YouTube, trying to be the next iCarly.
Now that my son wants to disown me, I’ll get to the point of this post; do you limit what your children watch on YouTube and, if so, how? Do you watch over them like a hawk (POS!)? Turn on filters? Check their history (which, in all honesty, they probably know how to delete)? Did you know that YouTube does not want kids under 13 using their site? Check out section 12 of their Terms of Use.
What do I do? I monitor my offspring by making periodic “walk-by’s” and no warning history checks. I also use fear tactics by telling my son that if I ever find anything inappropriate on his computer, he’ll have monitoring software installed on it and be given extremely strict usage limitations. Of course, I do the good parent thing by educating him on internet dangers and make clear what is and is not okay to post online.
What do you do?
Hey Rhonda,
I probably *should* supervise my kids when they watch YouTube videos (my 7 year-old Maya loves checking out Britian’s/America’s Got Talent performances, etc.) but so far it hasn’t been an issue wit the related videos it suggests.
Someone, however, just told me their daughter was looking at videos of dogs and he left her for a moment…when he returned she just clicked on a video of a dog fight. Thankfully, his 6 year-old didn’t see that or else it could’ve been traumatizing!
Marc
What are your thoughts on YouTube use in schools?
I teach 7th grade, and I use YouTube videos pretty often to illustrate educational things. Yesterday, for instance, I showed fishermen catching peacock bass in the Amazon River System. It took three minutes, and I told a little bit about why I have always wanted to go to the Pantanal on a peacock bass fishing trip. The keys: preview every video fully, have the video all cued up and ready to go, then turn on the projector. Do not surf YouTube in full view of the kids.
[...] is fool-proof and kids can find ways of getting past your security measures. In a different post, I shared how I handle my son’s YouTube experiences. Will you be turning YouTube’s Safety Mode on? Filed Under: My Online Life > Online [...]