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My kids watch this stuff constantly and it's just too much and too random to vet it all. I'm putting a lot of trust in YouTube Kids to filter it to quality cont

My kids watch this stuff constantly and it's just too much and too random to vet it all. I'm putting a lot of trust in YouTube Kids to filter it to quality content. That trust was shaken the other day when they said "daddy did you know you shouldn't sleep under trees because you can't breathe properly?" I'm like who told you that. "A video."[1] Turns out it was a "learning" video produced by one of these outfits, not ChuChu but a competitor called AumSum. It's some weird urban myth that has traction in south asia.[2] It's a bastardization of tree respiration biology. They think it puts out enough CO2 at night to impact humans. So don't sleep near it because then you'll be oxygen deprived. So yeah, apparently someone green-lit that stinker and turned into a cute animation. Which is funny until you realize AumSum as a whole has 139M views. Their singular mission is to make educational science videos.[2] And my kids are 100% addicted to YouTube Kids. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6_L7JOYz7U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6_L7JOYz7U [2] Compare the locations of the authors with pro-myth vs anti-myth answers. https://www.quora.com/Why-do-trees-produce-carbon-dioxide-CO2-at-night https://www.quora.com/Why-do-trees-produce-carbon-dioxide-CO... [3] "We try our level best to create highly creative and refreshing videos of Physics, Chemistry and Biology. This channel can prove to be useful for students studying in schools, colleges as well as for people of all ages who have a curious scientific mind." https://www.youtube.com/user/Smartlearningforall/about https://www.youtube.com/user/Smartlearningforall/about

rorykoehler 8y ago
Why do you let your kids watch Youtube? I never understood this. You as a parent have sole responsibility for what your kids consume.
- abalone 8y ago
  I know, I'm a shitty parent, and I'm solely responsible for my kids being exposed to shitty things in the world. I should throw out their iPads and read books to them constantly (more than the 20m/day I do every single day after 2h dinner & bedtime process) as well as have a large assortment of crafts and novel activities for them to engage in every morning while I do stuff like bathe and eat. Sorry for being shitty.
  - Pharmakon 8y ago
    In general no, but when it comes to plonking them down in front of a screen and turning on YouTube, that’s very much your choice. I don’t think that makes you a shitty parent either, but I think you’re misplacing your trust and it has a good chance of coming back to haunt you.
    - sjg007 8y ago
      I dunno. My kids like to take YouTube things and bring them into the real world in imaginative play. You have to block peppa pig Spider-Man dentist but it’s not specifically bad. My kids are great at iPads fyi and there are a lot of educational apps. The only downside is my kids want to make YouTube videos now. Which when I was a kid my cousins put on plays and my friends and I made home made videos too.
      - abalone 8y ago
        Yeah, my oldest is actually brilliant and has learned many advanced things from YT educational videos way ahead of the curve. It's a powerful tool for self-directed education.. and also for junky toddler crack. The problem is these content farms and ultimately the low payouts. Listen up YouTube: I would happily pay for better quality kids content. I'm about to trial Amazon FreeTime...
  - sjg007 8y ago
    It’s ok, I’m a YouTube dad too.. I’ve tried to lock it down as much as possible. We mostly watch Ryan and ninja kids now.
  - aidos 8y ago
    Nobody really has a right to tell parents how to parent. Parenting is hard. Personally, I don’t let mine near YouTube unless we’re looking something up together. They’re allowed kids Netflix but even that has plenty of content I don’t let them watch. Annoyingly, there’s no way to remove a show from Netflix. I’ve been meaning to make a chrome extension so I can blast the likes of Horseland into another dimension.
- gm-conspiracy 8y ago
  Not sure why this is downvoted. I understand it is one of the easiest pacification mechanisms for parents at the moment, but there is a cost. Don't defer your parental responsibilities to Google's algorithms,designed to increase engagement, not "learning". Does anybody read books to their children?
  - sjg007 8y ago
    The best thing about YouTube and such is that you can use it as a reward activity. So effectively it's a behavior training tool.
  - abalone 8y ago
    Yes I read daily. I also feed my kids pizza and ice cream from time to time and let them stay up past 8 last night. THERE IS A COST TO NEGLECTING MY PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES.
- covercash 8y ago
  Why isn’t there a Popcorn Time equivalent of children’s programming? Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street, Avatar:TLA and similar vetted content only. And strong parental controls if parents want to further limit the content. Kernel Time?
  - mrep 8y ago
    Because their are massive anti-incentives to write that software as you won't make you any money and it puts yourself at legal risk for writing software which is designed to skirt copyright laws.
    - covercash 8y ago
      Someone wrote Popcorn Time under those same conditions...
      - mrep 8y ago
        Yeah, and then "Following its creation, Popcorn Time quickly received positive media attention, with some comparing the app to Netflix for its ease of use. After this increase in popularity, the program was abruptly taken down by its original developers on March 14, 2014, due to pressure from the MPAA" [0]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_Time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_Time
      - s73v3r_ 8y ago
        Ok, then why don't you write the "kids Popcorn Time"?
        covercash 8y ago
        Because I don’t have the physical, mental, or emotional capacity to take on something of that scope. A good day for me is one where I only have to shit 10 times instead of 20 - that sort of thing kills a lot of hopes and dreams.
  - sergiotapia 8y ago
- keyle 8y ago
  And who are you to judge? You as a parent are welcome to see parenting your own way without imposing it to other or shaming them.
  - fipple 8y ago
    This idea that people shouldn’t be shamed needs to die. People who harm people should be shamed. Parenting choices can be a way of harming people.
    - keyle 8y ago
      By showing youtube kids video to their child? Com'on, you're extrapolating and pushing it beyond the point.
      - fipple 8y ago
        The entire anti-shaming movement seeks to legitimize all choices. It’s wrong.
        s73v3r_ 8y ago
        And you're looking to shame anything, no matter how benign. That's even more wrong.
        mrep 8y ago
        That's because people like you see 1 example and extrapolate that onto everyone's life circumstances. For example: What about a single mom who puts on youtube for her child while she does the home chores and cooks because she does not have the money to pay for anything else (youtube is free)? Should she force her kid to sit there without any stimuli while she works? I'd argue that is far worse.
        GordonS 8y ago
        That's a false dichotomy - if you have money to buy a device to show YouTube on, you have money for books, toys whatever. And they needn't be expensive - at least in the UK, you can regularly buy 2nd hand books in mint condition for as little as £0.01 from Amazon, and we have lots of charity shops with great bargains on 2nd hand toys.
- mrep 8y ago
  I'm not a parent, but I can totally see why as it is a free method for entertaining/potentially educating your child that requires extremely little involvement (time cost to the parent).
- DanBC 8y ago
  Why shouldn't parents trust a multibillion dollar company that employs literal geniuses when they say "hey, we have some videos that are suitablefor children"? Until you've tried it you don't know how terrible it is. And by that time it's normally too late.
stock_toaster 8y ago
I wouldn't advise sleeping under a Manchineel or a Water Hemlock, but for entirely different reasons.
briandear 8y ago
Koreans seem to believe fan-death is an actual thing too.
- AnabeeKnox 8y ago
  It's an urban myth that Koreans believe that urban myth.
  - 0x8BADF00D 8y ago
    It’s strange that in 2018, superstitious beliefs without any evidence are widely believed. It makes me wonder what kind of bizarre superstitions will exist 100 years from now.
  - wodenokoto 8y ago
    In my experience they do their best to propagate the idea that Koreans believe this myth. I have yet to meet a Korean who wouldn't defend fan death. Maybe it is like the Australian drop-bear.
  - root_axis 8y ago
    I lived in Incheon for 2 years and can confirm that belief in fan-death is definitely not uncommon. I even have a couple Korean friends who can rationally explain why fan-death makes no sense but still reflexively leave the window open when going to sleep with a fan on.
blattimwind 8y ago
> And my kids are 100% addicted to YouTube Kids. Clearly things got out of hand then.
- abalone 8y ago
  Meaning clearly I’m a terrible parent SMH. Also I am exaggerating.. the kids enjoy the television programming they experience on the YouTube and I would prefer if there were fewer errors. Tell me you weren’t 100% addicted to a television show when you were a kid (He-Man, GI Joe, Transformers...), oh holy one.
  - blattimwind 8y ago
    > Meaning clearly I’m a terrible parent SMH. > Also I am exaggerating > 100% addicted > oh holy one Perhaps you should use less hyperbole in your writings, it would certainly lead to fewer misunderstandings.
  - Double_a_92 8y ago
    > Tell me you weren’t 100% addicted to a television show when you were a kid (He-Man, GI Joe, Transformers...), oh holy one. But that was only once a day after school for 1 hour or so. Not constantly everytime I felt bored.
    - abalone 8y ago
      An hour a day of screentime is literally what I’m talking about. That’s a constant presence in life.
      - Double_a_92 8y ago
        But it's more nowadays. I notice it even on myself. On the internet I can watch whatever I like, and stick to that for hours. On the TV theres maybe only 2-3 interesting shows to watch, so I would eventually turn it off.
  - hycaria 8y ago

rorykoehler 8y ago

Why do you let your kids watch Youtube? I never understood this. You as a parent have sole responsibility for what your kids consume.

abalone 8y ago
I know, I'm a shitty parent, and I'm solely responsible for my kids being exposed to shitty things in the world. I should throw out their iPads and read books to them constantly (more than the 20m/day I do every single day after 2h dinner & bedtime process) as well as have a large assortment of crafts and novel activities for them to engage in every morning while I do stuff like bathe and eat. Sorry for being shitty.
- Pharmakon 8y ago
  In general no, but when it comes to plonking them down in front of a screen and turning on YouTube, that’s very much your choice. I don’t think that makes you a shitty parent either, but I think you’re misplacing your trust and it has a good chance of coming back to haunt you.
  - sjg007 8y ago
    I dunno. My kids like to take YouTube things and bring them into the real world in imaginative play. You have to block peppa pig Spider-Man dentist but it’s not specifically bad. My kids are great at iPads fyi and there are a lot of educational apps. The only downside is my kids want to make YouTube videos now. Which when I was a kid my cousins put on plays and my friends and I made home made videos too.
    - abalone 8y ago
      Yeah, my oldest is actually brilliant and has learned many advanced things from YT educational videos way ahead of the curve. It's a powerful tool for self-directed education.. and also for junky toddler crack. The problem is these content farms and ultimately the low payouts. Listen up YouTube: I would happily pay for better quality kids content. I'm about to trial Amazon FreeTime...
- sjg007 8y ago
  It’s ok, I’m a YouTube dad too.. I’ve tried to lock it down as much as possible. We mostly watch Ryan and ninja kids now.
- aidos 8y ago
  Nobody really has a right to tell parents how to parent. Parenting is hard. Personally, I don’t let mine near YouTube unless we’re looking something up together. They’re allowed kids Netflix but even that has plenty of content I don’t let them watch. Annoyingly, there’s no way to remove a show from Netflix. I’ve been meaning to make a chrome extension so I can blast the likes of Horseland into another dimension.
gm-conspiracy 8y ago
Not sure why this is downvoted. I understand it is one of the easiest pacification mechanisms for parents at the moment, but there is a cost. Don't defer your parental responsibilities to Google's algorithms,designed to increase engagement, not "learning". Does anybody read books to their children?
- sjg007 8y ago
  The best thing about YouTube and such is that you can use it as a reward activity. So effectively it's a behavior training tool.
- abalone 8y ago
  Yes I read daily. I also feed my kids pizza and ice cream from time to time and let them stay up past 8 last night. THERE IS A COST TO NEGLECTING MY PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES.
covercash 8y ago
Why isn’t there a Popcorn Time equivalent of children’s programming? Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street, Avatar:TLA and similar vetted content only. And strong parental controls if parents want to further limit the content. Kernel Time?
- mrep 8y ago
  Because their are massive anti-incentives to write that software as you won't make you any money and it puts yourself at legal risk for writing software which is designed to skirt copyright laws.
  - covercash 8y ago
    Someone wrote Popcorn Time under those same conditions...
    - mrep 8y ago
      Yeah, and then "Following its creation, Popcorn Time quickly received positive media attention, with some comparing the app to Netflix for its ease of use. After this increase in popularity, the program was abruptly taken down by its original developers on March 14, 2014, due to pressure from the MPAA" [0]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_Time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_Time
    - s73v3r_ 8y ago
      Ok, then why don't you write the "kids Popcorn Time"?
      - covercash 8y ago
        Because I don’t have the physical, mental, or emotional capacity to take on something of that scope. A good day for me is one where I only have to shit 10 times instead of 20 - that sort of thing kills a lot of hopes and dreams.
- sergiotapia 8y ago
keyle 8y ago
And who are you to judge? You as a parent are welcome to see parenting your own way without imposing it to other or shaming them.
- fipple 8y ago
  This idea that people shouldn’t be shamed needs to die. People who harm people should be shamed. Parenting choices can be a way of harming people.
  - keyle 8y ago
    By showing youtube kids video to their child? Com'on, you're extrapolating and pushing it beyond the point.
    - fipple 8y ago
      The entire anti-shaming movement seeks to legitimize all choices. It’s wrong.
      - s73v3r_ 8y ago
        And you're looking to shame anything, no matter how benign. That's even more wrong.
      - mrep 8y ago
        That's because people like you see 1 example and extrapolate that onto everyone's life circumstances. For example: What about a single mom who puts on youtube for her child while she does the home chores and cooks because she does not have the money to pay for anything else (youtube is free)? Should she force her kid to sit there without any stimuli while she works? I'd argue that is far worse.
        GordonS 8y ago
        That's a false dichotomy - if you have money to buy a device to show YouTube on, you have money for books, toys whatever. And they needn't be expensive - at least in the UK, you can regularly buy 2nd hand books in mint condition for as little as £0.01 from Amazon, and we have lots of charity shops with great bargains on 2nd hand toys.
mrep 8y ago
I'm not a parent, but I can totally see why as it is a free method for entertaining/potentially educating your child that requires extremely little involvement (time cost to the parent).
DanBC 8y ago
Why shouldn't parents trust a multibillion dollar company that employs literal geniuses when they say "hey, we have some videos that are suitablefor children"? Until you've tried it you don't know how terrible it is. And by that time it's normally too late.

stock_toaster 8y ago

I wouldn't advise sleeping under a Manchineel or a Water Hemlock, but for entirely different reasons.

briandear 8y ago

Koreans seem to believe fan-death is an actual thing too.

AnabeeKnox 8y ago
It's an urban myth that Koreans believe that urban myth.
- 0x8BADF00D 8y ago
  It’s strange that in 2018, superstitious beliefs without any evidence are widely believed. It makes me wonder what kind of bizarre superstitions will exist 100 years from now.
- wodenokoto 8y ago
  In my experience they do their best to propagate the idea that Koreans believe this myth. I have yet to meet a Korean who wouldn't defend fan death. Maybe it is like the Australian drop-bear.
- root_axis 8y ago
  I lived in Incheon for 2 years and can confirm that belief in fan-death is definitely not uncommon. I even have a couple Korean friends who can rationally explain why fan-death makes no sense but still reflexively leave the window open when going to sleep with a fan on.

blattimwind 8y ago

> And my kids are 100% addicted to YouTube Kids. Clearly things got out of hand then.

abalone 8y ago
Meaning clearly I’m a terrible parent SMH. Also I am exaggerating.. the kids enjoy the television programming they experience on the YouTube and I would prefer if there were fewer errors. Tell me you weren’t 100% addicted to a television show when you were a kid (He-Man, GI Joe, Transformers...), oh holy one.
- blattimwind 8y ago
  > Meaning clearly I’m a terrible parent SMH. > Also I am exaggerating > 100% addicted > oh holy one Perhaps you should use less hyperbole in your writings, it would certainly lead to fewer misunderstandings.
- Double_a_92 8y ago
  > Tell me you weren’t 100% addicted to a television show when you were a kid (He-Man, GI Joe, Transformers...), oh holy one. But that was only once a day after school for 1 hour or so. Not constantly everytime I felt bored.
  - abalone 8y ago
    An hour a day of screentime is literally what I’m talking about. That’s a constant presence in life.
    - Double_a_92 8y ago
      But it's more nowadays. I notice it even on myself. On the internet I can watch whatever I like, and stick to that for hours. On the TV theres maybe only 2-3 interesting shows to watch, so I would eventually turn it off.
- hycaria 8y ago