7 ms·

Does this or Vanced help with the problem I have: my kids are being brainwashed via Google's algorithms? More specifically, I hate that when they watch YouTube

by xrd 5y ago

Does this or Vanced help with the problem I have: my kids are being brainwashed via Google's algorithms? More specifically, I hate that when they watch YouTube it is pushing really shitty content on them. Is there a way with either of these apps to filter out things I don't want them to watch, or perhaps even have a list of things I only want them to watch? I don't think my kids would notice if they couldn't get Ninja Kidz and their spammy Walmart plastic crap they are always shilling to my kids.

rjzzleep 5y ago
What about just removing the youtube app from the tablet you give your child?
- xrd 5y ago
  There are good things on YouTube. And, their friends watch YouTube.
  - R0b0t1 5y ago
    If they're so young they get sucked into those weird meme videos they're probably too young for the device, if they're older than that try impressing upon the importance of viewing useful content. And take it away if you catch them watching pointless stuff.
  - kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 5y ago
    I do agree there are good things on YouTube, but there are also horrific, definitely not age appropriate things, and there is not enough control to keep one flowing into the other. We watch YouTube as a family, but we're fortunate in that we all like the same content. But in my opinion, supervision is the only true way to make sure they're only seeing appropriate things. Also, "their friends are doing it" is a terrible reason to let them do it, IMHO.
  - rjzzleep 5y ago
    You can just download those and show them instead of having them browse around Youtube. But I guess it takes time and effort to do that
  - amcoastal 5y ago
    I wish my parents had let the "my friends are doing it" excuse work. You're easy.
- DarkCrusader2 5y ago
  Even more "radical" would be not giving the child a tablet at all.
azca 5y ago
Proactively this is the only thing that worked: get yt premium, download YouTube videos you preselected, and disconnect the child's device.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  What does getting YouTube Premium add to that plan? Wouldn't it work just as well without that step?
  - marcusjt 5y ago
    You need YouTube Premium to be able to download videos to watch offline (plus see no ads)
    - xigoi 5y ago
      …or you can just use NewPipe.
    - selfhoster11 5y ago
      All you need is Vanced or NewPipe.
      - kragen 5y ago
        Or youtube-dl. Though I've been getting bandwidth-limited lately...
        c0balt 5y ago
        There is a fork, yt-dlp[0], that I've enjoyed using recently that has some mitigations for this issue[1] (see --throttling-rate)t [0]: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp [1]: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/985 https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/985
    - thaumasiotes 5y ago
      No part of what you just said is true.
genzer 5y ago
Have you tried YouTube Kids? I allow my daughter using only YouTube Kids (in kid mode) on my Android phone. The suggested content was good enough. Google also allowed you to supervise the content [1]. [1]: https://support.google.com/youtubekids/answer/7178746#block_content_for_youth_in_YT&zippy=%2Cblock-specific-channels-from-youtube-using-your-linked-parent-account https://support.google.com/youtubekids/answer/7178746#block_...
- R_VelJohnson 5y ago
  I tried YouTube Kids, but found it was suggesting a lot of surprise egg and colorful slime videos. I blocked those channels, but more showed up, so I deleted the app.
  - seized 5y ago
    Its only usable (in my opinion) in the allow list channel mode. Otherwise its never ending reaction blocking.
smegma2 5y ago
On newpipe you can disable a lot of YouTube features, it might get you part of the way. For example you can disable related/suggested videos and the 'popular' tab, then you can only see things through search or links.
pedrogpimenta 5y ago
I have a 5 month old daughter, so I obviously haven't tried it yet, but I'm pretty keen on and have been setting up a Jellyfin on a Raspberry Pi, so that when it's time for her to watch some videos, I want it to be a closed environment. No ads, no pushing of shit but specially, no endless stream of videos. I think what makes it worse is having the world in their hands and just be able to watch 2 minutes and skip. I see kids doing that all the time and it makes me feel uneasy. If it completely changed my ability to concentrate as am adult I can't fathom how that "power" affects the mind of a child.
- calculated 5y ago
  I believe you're a good father since you're concerned. As time goes you'll teach them focus and they'll teach themselves. Focus is a general problem and it has to be solved as such. More and more distractions will be born as years go by so you need a general solution. That's my suggestion.
  - pedrogpimenta 5y ago
    ~I have all of that, except instead of Kodi, Jellyfin. Also no nzbget because I just found out about that and AFAIK you need some kind of invite to enter a Usenet? I dunno! I get by with torrents :)~ Sorry, wrong thread!
- phreack 5y ago
  That is precisely the same idea I ended up on, that feels like the best option. Basically, as a caretaker, nowadays it is most important to curate 100% the kind of media your kids have access to, as otherwise it is impossible for them not to be consumed by the algorithm and end up with a lot of psichological damage. Kudos for taking on such a hard job, hope you find a way to share your projects and results in the end, hope they work out well.
- kebman 5y ago
  Have you considered to not let the baby see any videos at all? Apparently there is some research that claims that upbringing like that might still create a bad video addiction. The baby should be focussing on you or other people that are around for socialization, not a screen. I understand if there is no time. Hell, I don't have time. But apparently that's what some psychologists are saying.
colordrops 5y ago
My kids have done quite well without watching any YouTube.
danShumway 5y ago
> Does this or Vanced help with the problem I have: my kids are being brainwashed via Google's algorithms? Actually yes, kind of? At least a little bit. NewPipe doesn't have parental controls, so if you don't trust your kids to keep these things on, NewPipe can't help you. However, if you do trust kids and you just want a way to remove some of the influences, NewPipe (and NewPipexSponsorblock[0], if you're comfortable using a fork) have some really compelling features: - You can turn off comments - You can turn off recommended videos (including "next/similar" sections alongside videos you're watching) - NewPipexSponsorblock will skip (many) advertisements within videos - You can turn off search suggestions as you're searching for new videos - There are some nice feed options that allow you to have much more curated update feeds, so you spend less time searching for videos in the first place. ---- However: - Again, no parental controls. You either trust your kids to use it or you don't, because your kids can go into the settings and just flip all this stuff back on. - No way to block videos/channels from appearing in search results, which is something I would love. - No way to do things like get rid of search and only use a feed. There is talk on the NewPipe issue tracker about adding a blocklist feature, which I think would be a great improvement, but I have no idea what the priority is[1] or when it would happen. ---- I'll speak anecdotally here, but I think that even just Sponsorblock makes a huge difference in the Youtube experience, and I advise any parent with kids to use either NewPipe or the NewPipexSponsorblock fork, and I advise them to install Sponsorblock on their desktop browser. I think that getting rid of recommended videos improved my experience dramatically, I think that having better feeds means I spend less time on Youtube in the first place. I have ADD, these are some of the ways I improve my focus and eliminate distractions. In regards to Sponsorblock, we can get into debates about whether blocking embedded ads inside of videos is moral; I have my own opinions about that but I understand that it can make people uncomfortable. However, I think the gloves come off when we're talking about kids. I don't think there's a moral argument to be made that kids need to sit through sponsored segments and over-long intros and get crud shoveled at them against their will to support Google. But basically, even though blocking isn't in yet you can still get rid of a lot of Google recommendations and you can get rid of really cruddy surrounding parts to videos like comments/watch-next/etc, and I think that's really helpful for kids. ---- [0]: https://github.com/polymorphicshade/NewPipe https://github.com/polymorphicshade/NewPipe [1]: https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/projects/13#card-31636436 https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/projects/13#card-3163...
samfather 5y ago
Here's an idea: don't let your underage kids on the Internet without supervision.
zibzab 5y ago
Short answer: no. Long answer: I use NewPipe exclusively to watch development videos and it keeps recommending antivaax & alt-right propaganda as related videos.
R_VelJohnson 5y ago
Depends how old your kids are, but that's what I use it for. You can set the home screen to your subscription list, and it doesn't show related videos unless you go to a separate tab. Those two things have saved me from much screaming about not getting to watch the colorful slime videos that regular YouTube always suggests.
bayat 5y ago
Brave browser let’s you make a playlist of YouTube videos which are downloaded to the device. Curate a playlist and then disconnect wifi and voila? Hope that helps
jevyjevjevs 5y ago
When my kids want to watch something on a topic, I use yt-dlp to download a bunch of videos. I have that older synced with my Synology, and my kids have that folder syncing with Synology on their iPad. I've found this to be a good balance for managing it easily for me, giving them what they want to see without giving youtube access.

by xrd 5y ago

rjzzleep 5y ago

What about just removing the youtube app from the tablet you give your child?

xrd 5y ago
There are good things on YouTube. And, their friends watch YouTube.
- R0b0t1 5y ago
  If they're so young they get sucked into those weird meme videos they're probably too young for the device, if they're older than that try impressing upon the importance of viewing useful content. And take it away if you catch them watching pointless stuff.
- kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 5y ago
  I do agree there are good things on YouTube, but there are also horrific, definitely not age appropriate things, and there is not enough control to keep one flowing into the other. We watch YouTube as a family, but we're fortunate in that we all like the same content. But in my opinion, supervision is the only true way to make sure they're only seeing appropriate things. Also, "their friends are doing it" is a terrible reason to let them do it, IMHO.
- rjzzleep 5y ago
  You can just download those and show them instead of having them browse around Youtube. But I guess it takes time and effort to do that
- amcoastal 5y ago
  I wish my parents had let the "my friends are doing it" excuse work. You're easy.
DarkCrusader2 5y ago
Even more "radical" would be not giving the child a tablet at all.

azca 5y ago

Proactively this is the only thing that worked: get yt premium, download YouTube videos you preselected, and disconnect the child's device.

thaumasiotes 5y ago
What does getting YouTube Premium add to that plan? Wouldn't it work just as well without that step?
- marcusjt 5y ago
  You need YouTube Premium to be able to download videos to watch offline (plus see no ads)
  - xigoi 5y ago
    …or you can just use NewPipe.
  - selfhoster11 5y ago
    All you need is Vanced or NewPipe.
    - kragen 5y ago
      Or youtube-dl. Though I've been getting bandwidth-limited lately...
      - c0balt 5y ago
        There is a fork, yt-dlp[0], that I've enjoyed using recently that has some mitigations for this issue[1] (see --throttling-rate)t [0]: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp [1]: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/985 https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/985
  - thaumasiotes 5y ago
    No part of what you just said is true.

genzer 5y ago

Have you tried YouTube Kids? I allow my daughter using only YouTube Kids (in kid mode) on my Android phone. The suggested content was good enough. Google also allowed you to supervise the content [1]. [1]: https://support.google.com/youtubekids/answer/7178746#block_content_for_youth_in_YT&zippy=%2Cblock-specific-channels-from-youtube-using-your-linked-parent-account https://support.google.com/youtubekids/answer/7178746#block_...

R_VelJohnson 5y ago
I tried YouTube Kids, but found it was suggesting a lot of surprise egg and colorful slime videos. I blocked those channels, but more showed up, so I deleted the app.
- seized 5y ago
  Its only usable (in my opinion) in the allow list channel mode. Otherwise its never ending reaction blocking.

smegma2 5y ago

On newpipe you can disable a lot of YouTube features, it might get you part of the way. For example you can disable related/suggested videos and the 'popular' tab, then you can only see things through search or links.

pedrogpimenta 5y ago

I have a 5 month old daughter, so I obviously haven't tried it yet, but I'm pretty keen on and have been setting up a Jellyfin on a Raspberry Pi, so that when it's time for her to watch some videos, I want it to be a closed environment. No ads, no pushing of shit but specially, no endless stream of videos. I think what makes it worse is having the world in their hands and just be able to watch 2 minutes and skip. I see kids doing that all the time and it makes me feel uneasy. If it completely changed my ability to concentrate as am adult I can't fathom how that "power" affects the mind of a child.

calculated 5y ago
I believe you're a good father since you're concerned. As time goes you'll teach them focus and they'll teach themselves. Focus is a general problem and it has to be solved as such. More and more distractions will be born as years go by so you need a general solution. That's my suggestion.
- pedrogpimenta 5y ago
  ~I have all of that, except instead of Kodi, Jellyfin. Also no nzbget because I just found out about that and AFAIK you need some kind of invite to enter a Usenet? I dunno! I get by with torrents :)~ Sorry, wrong thread!
phreack 5y ago
That is precisely the same idea I ended up on, that feels like the best option. Basically, as a caretaker, nowadays it is most important to curate 100% the kind of media your kids have access to, as otherwise it is impossible for them not to be consumed by the algorithm and end up with a lot of psichological damage. Kudos for taking on such a hard job, hope you find a way to share your projects and results in the end, hope they work out well.
kebman 5y ago
Have you considered to not let the baby see any videos at all? Apparently there is some research that claims that upbringing like that might still create a bad video addiction. The baby should be focussing on you or other people that are around for socialization, not a screen. I understand if there is no time. Hell, I don't have time. But apparently that's what some psychologists are saying.

colordrops 5y ago

My kids have done quite well without watching any YouTube.

danShumway 5y ago

> Does this or Vanced help with the problem I have: my kids are being brainwashed via Google's algorithms? Actually yes, kind of? At least a little bit. NewPipe doesn't have parental controls, so if you don't trust your kids to keep these things on, NewPipe can't help you. However, if you do trust kids and you just want a way to remove some of the influences, NewPipe (and NewPipexSponsorblock[0], if you're comfortable using a fork) have some really compelling features: - You can turn off comments - You can turn off recommended videos (including "next/similar" sections alongside videos you're watching) - NewPipexSponsorblock will skip (many) advertisements within videos - You can turn off search suggestions as you're searching for new videos - There are some nice feed options that allow you to have much more curated update feeds, so you spend less time searching for videos in the first place. ---- However: - Again, no parental controls. You either trust your kids to use it or you don't, because your kids can go into the settings and just flip all this stuff back on. - No way to block videos/channels from appearing in search results, which is something I would love. - No way to do things like get rid of search and only use a feed. There is talk on the NewPipe issue tracker about adding a blocklist feature, which I think would be a great improvement, but I have no idea what the priority is[1] or when it would happen. ---- I'll speak anecdotally here, but I think that even just Sponsorblock makes a huge difference in the Youtube experience, and I advise any parent with kids to use either NewPipe or the NewPipexSponsorblock fork, and I advise them to install Sponsorblock on their desktop browser. I think that getting rid of recommended videos improved my experience dramatically, I think that having better feeds means I spend less time on Youtube in the first place. I have ADD, these are some of the ways I improve my focus and eliminate distractions. In regards to Sponsorblock, we can get into debates about whether blocking embedded ads inside of videos is moral; I have my own opinions about that but I understand that it can make people uncomfortable. However, I think the gloves come off when we're talking about kids. I don't think there's a moral argument to be made that kids need to sit through sponsored segments and over-long intros and get crud shoveled at them against their will to support Google. But basically, even though blocking isn't in yet you can still get rid of a lot of Google recommendations and you can get rid of really cruddy surrounding parts to videos like comments/watch-next/etc, and I think that's really helpful for kids. ---- [0]: https://github.com/polymorphicshade/NewPipe https://github.com/polymorphicshade/NewPipe [1]: https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/projects/13#card-31636436 https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/projects/13#card-3163...

samfather 5y ago

Here's an idea: don't let your underage kids on the Internet without supervision.

zibzab 5y ago

Short answer: no. Long answer: I use NewPipe exclusively to watch development videos and it keeps recommending antivaax & alt-right propaganda as related videos.

R_VelJohnson 5y ago

Depends how old your kids are, but that's what I use it for. You can set the home screen to your subscription list, and it doesn't show related videos unless you go to a separate tab. Those two things have saved me from much screaming about not getting to watch the colorful slime videos that regular YouTube always suggests.

bayat 5y ago

Brave browser let’s you make a playlist of YouTube videos which are downloaded to the device. Curate a playlist and then disconnect wifi and voila? Hope that helps

jevyjevjevs 5y ago

When my kids want to watch something on a topic, I use yt-dlp to download a bunch of videos. I have that older synced with my Synology, and my kids have that folder syncing with Synology on their iPad. I've found this to be a good balance for managing it easily for me, giving them what they want to see without giving youtube access.