4 ms·

The content on YouTube absolutely differs from the content on regular television. Most children's television content has some value: a lesson, moral or at leas

The content on YouTube absolutely differs from the content on regular television. Most children's television content has some value: a lesson, moral or at least an actual story. Others have mentioned the horrifying inappropriate content, but even ignoring that, there is a mind-boggling amount of content on YouTube that is really devoid of value (at least in terms of what I want my kids watching): * Nursery rhymes -- which is not so bad, but it just keeps going forever * People (often adults) dressed up as children's story characters, just goofing around * People (not always kids) literally just playing with toys * People (not always kids) doing some mind-numbing repetitive task (for 10's of minutes) like opening kinder eggs, molding play doh or pouring glitter on things

beart 7y ago
Is there any evidence that this is different, better or worse, than traditional television?
- xmprt 7y ago
  Content farms thrive by children's content on YouTube. Something similar could never exist on other curated platforms like TV just as a matter of scale. A content farm can put out 100 ten minute videos of the same type just by swapping out some assets and keywords. At least one of those will get somewhat popular. This is even more devious with MCNs where multiple channels group up but revenue goes to a single entity. If YouTube flags a single channel, it doesn't hurt the entire MCN so you can get around the spam filters that YouTube almost certainly has in place.
- igammarays 7y ago
  Are you going to wait for evidence that feeding garbage to your kids is bad for them before stopping it?
- m463 7y ago
  I wonder the same thing. For instance, I suspect a lot of kids do not have proper fear of wild animals, because from television they know animals are friendly, and some can even talk. Additionally, bad guys wear black and have scars, while good guys are clean shaven and wear attractive clothing.
- baroffoos 7y ago
  Kids shows on traditional tv shows have story lines (conflict, resolution), educational content (numbers, letters, basic math), some level of basic logic/moral dilemmas. And at the very least they didn't have disturbing violent and sexual content that you get from kids youtube.
zaroth 7y ago
It’s more like the video which looks like Barney but then he starts shooting the other characters or thinking about hanging himself... There was a whole “panic” at my kids school about not warning your kids not to watch “Momo” videos.
jacobolus 7y ago
Occasionally when staying in a hotel, I flip through the shows available on the cable TV there. With a 3-year-old, that now means flipping through the kids shows. Unfortunately, these are now unbelievably vapid and pointless, even on PBS. It’s not quite clear what happened. The comparison to early Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Newton’s Apple, Long Ago and Far Away, Reading Rainbow, Bill Nye the Science Guy, etc. is stark. I’m not convinced most of the current shows are any better than watching an endless stream of poorly produced nursery rhymes on youtube. I wouldn’t let young children spend nontrivial amounts of time watching “Kids’ TV” in 2019.

beart 7y ago

Is there any evidence that this is different, better or worse, than traditional television?

xmprt 7y ago
Content farms thrive by children's content on YouTube. Something similar could never exist on other curated platforms like TV just as a matter of scale. A content farm can put out 100 ten minute videos of the same type just by swapping out some assets and keywords. At least one of those will get somewhat popular. This is even more devious with MCNs where multiple channels group up but revenue goes to a single entity. If YouTube flags a single channel, it doesn't hurt the entire MCN so you can get around the spam filters that YouTube almost certainly has in place.
igammarays 7y ago
Are you going to wait for evidence that feeding garbage to your kids is bad for them before stopping it?
m463 7y ago
I wonder the same thing. For instance, I suspect a lot of kids do not have proper fear of wild animals, because from television they know animals are friendly, and some can even talk. Additionally, bad guys wear black and have scars, while good guys are clean shaven and wear attractive clothing.
baroffoos 7y ago
Kids shows on traditional tv shows have story lines (conflict, resolution), educational content (numbers, letters, basic math), some level of basic logic/moral dilemmas. And at the very least they didn't have disturbing violent and sexual content that you get from kids youtube.

zaroth 7y ago

It’s more like the video which looks like Barney but then he starts shooting the other characters or thinking about hanging himself... There was a whole “panic” at my kids school about not warning your kids not to watch “Momo” videos.

jacobolus 7y ago

Occasionally when staying in a hotel, I flip through the shows available on the cable TV there. With a 3-year-old, that now means flipping through the kids shows. Unfortunately, these are now unbelievably vapid and pointless, even on PBS. It’s not quite clear what happened. The comparison to early Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Newton’s Apple, Long Ago and Far Away, Reading Rainbow, Bill Nye the Science Guy, etc. is stark. I’m not convinced most of the current shows are any better than watching an endless stream of poorly produced nursery rhymes on youtube. I wouldn’t let young children spend nontrivial amounts of time watching “Kids’ TV” in 2019.