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The only one we have so far is that we blocked YouTube at the router level. YouTube (and YouTube Kids etc.) is down-right creepy when kids get hold of it. The

by api 5y ago

The only one we have so far is that we blocked YouTube at the router level. YouTube (and YouTube Kids etc.) is down-right creepy when kids get hold of it. The kids will watch things like Netflix or Amazon Prime for a bit, get bored, and do something else. They'll play stuff like Minecraft for a bit and move on too. But put them in front of YouTube and they will sit there all day watching banal, repetitive, shockingly obnoxious, and sometimes creepy and disturbing content. Sometimes the younger ones will literally urinate on themselves because they are so transfixed by YouTube. What's even spookier is that the same content on normal streaming networks does not have the same effect. There's a young kids show called Blippi that they watched on YouTube before we banned it. They'd watch it all day on YouTube. Then after our ban it showed upon Amazon Prime. They found it there and will watch it... occasionally... for a bit. There is something about YouTube's design and algorithm that's a perfect Skinner box for humans, and it works disturbingly well for children. P.S. the adult behavior often involves a powerful "rabbit hole" effect where you watch one political or ideological video and you get profiled and served tons more like it. Combined with the Skinner box effect it has and it's like some weird dystopia where you get Clockwork Orange style brainwashing but get to pick what you're brainwashed with. Reminds me of a skit Monty Python would have done: "Hello sir, I'm here for the brainwashing. Can I see a menu?" "Certainly, sir! Today's we have a half off special on Leninism and UFO abductee cults..." "Do you have holocaust denial?" "Hmm... I think we may be out of that one. Would you like some tankie gulag denial instead?"

jrm4 5y ago
Interesting, for the 5 year old I blocked Youtube and kept Youtube kids, though I'm always over his shoulder. It's weird because, while I have concerns over the tons of Minecraft and that kid who got rich playing with toys with his parents -- the whole Aumsum deal feels worth it; kid's dropping all kinds of knowledge on me from it.
d3nj4l 5y ago
That's super weird. Have you tried to figure out what the difference is? Netflix and the like also have a lot of the features that I can think would cause such a reaction: infinite playback without user input, very little friction from opening to playing something and so on. Is it the content? Or what it recommends? Might give a reason to why kids seem to be hooked to elsagate videos...
- api 5y ago
  I can't quite figure it out, but I think the colors and flashiness is part of it. Combine that with the tightness and apparent effectiveness of the engagement-maximizing algorithm and how quickly it moves you along to the next thing and I think you have something. The content the kids get hooked on is sometimes down-right weird. My older daughter got hooked on this Minecraft YouTuber called Preston who just yammers for hours at the speed of an old fashioned auctioneer. It's utterly obnoxious to grown ups but the kids will sit there until they're in a puddle of their own urine. A neighbor kid got hooked on weird "meme videos" full of pictures from horror games set to banal nursery rhyme style music. They got obsessed with characters from a game called "Five Nights at Freddie's" even though they've never played it. Some of these videos are 12 hours long and obviously assembled by bots. It's fucking "kill it with fire" creepy. It's so extreme with kids if I didn't know such things were impossible I'd start wondering about 5G mind control conspiracy theories. (Alas, the link is WiFi not 5G...) Other parents have told me the same thing. I've helped a few neighbors ban YouTube on their routers. I've read it on parenting forums too. I've heard TikTok can be this way for teens but have no direct experience.
  - d3nj4l 5y ago
    I'm repeating myself, but that's so weird. From personal experience, I've only ever thought of the YouTube algorithm as crap. Every time I check YouTube everything there is just irrelevant to me, and the recommendations next to any video are just as random and pointless that I rarely watch more than one video at a time. It might help that I'm actively repelled by clickbait, and a lot of YouTube has (had to?) go down that hole.
    - aerovistae 5y ago
      Right, same, but we're adults. I also find clickbait repulsive, am extremely conscious of what youtube is trying to do, and constantly tell it "I'm not interested in this channel" when it starts showing me a ton of content to match something I just watched. But I've seen young kids (6-11) behave EXACTLY as OP has described here, word for word. Just pointlessly watching assemblages of Five Nights of Freddy footage for hours, despite not having the game.

by api 5y ago

jrm4 5y ago

Interesting, for the 5 year old I blocked Youtube and kept Youtube kids, though I'm always over his shoulder. It's weird because, while I have concerns over the tons of Minecraft and that kid who got rich playing with toys with his parents -- the whole Aumsum deal feels worth it; kid's dropping all kinds of knowledge on me from it.

d3nj4l 5y ago

That's super weird. Have you tried to figure out what the difference is? Netflix and the like also have a lot of the features that I can think would cause such a reaction: infinite playback without user input, very little friction from opening to playing something and so on. Is it the content? Or what it recommends? Might give a reason to why kids seem to be hooked to elsagate videos...

api 5y ago
I can't quite figure it out, but I think the colors and flashiness is part of it. Combine that with the tightness and apparent effectiveness of the engagement-maximizing algorithm and how quickly it moves you along to the next thing and I think you have something. The content the kids get hooked on is sometimes down-right weird. My older daughter got hooked on this Minecraft YouTuber called Preston who just yammers for hours at the speed of an old fashioned auctioneer. It's utterly obnoxious to grown ups but the kids will sit there until they're in a puddle of their own urine. A neighbor kid got hooked on weird "meme videos" full of pictures from horror games set to banal nursery rhyme style music. They got obsessed with characters from a game called "Five Nights at Freddie's" even though they've never played it. Some of these videos are 12 hours long and obviously assembled by bots. It's fucking "kill it with fire" creepy. It's so extreme with kids if I didn't know such things were impossible I'd start wondering about 5G mind control conspiracy theories. (Alas, the link is WiFi not 5G...) Other parents have told me the same thing. I've helped a few neighbors ban YouTube on their routers. I've read it on parenting forums too. I've heard TikTok can be this way for teens but have no direct experience.
- d3nj4l 5y ago
  I'm repeating myself, but that's so weird. From personal experience, I've only ever thought of the YouTube algorithm as crap. Every time I check YouTube everything there is just irrelevant to me, and the recommendations next to any video are just as random and pointless that I rarely watch more than one video at a time. It might help that I'm actively repelled by clickbait, and a lot of YouTube has (had to?) go down that hole.
  - aerovistae 5y ago
    Right, same, but we're adults. I also find clickbait repulsive, am extremely conscious of what youtube is trying to do, and constantly tell it "I'm not interested in this channel" when it starts showing me a ton of content to match something I just watched. But I've seen young kids (6-11) behave EXACTLY as OP has described here, word for word. Just pointlessly watching assemblages of Five Nights of Freddy footage for hours, despite not having the game.