AIBU that I can’t stand YouTube ?

[Newusername3kidss]

My boys (6 & 9) have never watched YouTube as I deleted it from their iPads. They’ve now got a TV in their play room and rather than watching shows on Netflix / Prime etc just want to watch videos on YouTube Kids. They are just absolute trash. They don’t want much TV just a bit having breakfast and a bit after school clubs / homework etc. they just sit like zombies watching someone play a Minecraft game or some random American family’s “daily life”. Am I being mean to say they can’t watch it anymore? At least with the shows they watched they were following a story line etc. This just seems completely mindless. Annoyingly I can’t seem to actually delete the app (it’s a Samsung smart tv )

I think You Tube is much like most other things, there are good things and bad. Im not sure about the kids stuff but I watch a lot of tutorials, language learning content and documentaries that I wouldn't otherwise have access to.

I agree that the American family life content is mostly awful!

I agree, it's all so mundane and pointless. My son loves watching emergency vehicles responding to call outs. I steer him back to cartoons as much as possible but he just really enjoys them. I think you've just gotta let them watch it, it's just a phase and it's probably what their friends are watching too.

Drives me mad the nonsense mine would watch on YouTube.

However it did help me to fix my hoover last night !!

YANBU! Youtube has some absolutely fantastic content, but there is some absolute shit on there too, and we don't let our kids watch it unsupervised (or if we have approved certain channels). Youtube kids is awful! I remember an article i read when mine were little, about how lots of the videos are AI made, and they're just off and weird. I don't think it's good for young kids to be exposed to a lot of what youtube has to offer. The constant dopamine hits from most of the content, things like unboxing, the "being famous" and weird real life aspect - nope! Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic platfrom for many things, but it's not something kids are equipped to navigate safely in a way that doesn't lead to them being negatively affected (in my opinion)

Agree. There’s some good stuff. But most people don’t look at that. It’s why “Influencers” are so successful.

I’m always amazed at the total garbage that folk scroll through on their phones. While in company, too...

You are being unreasonable to say you hate YouTube as a whole when there's a whole wealth of stuff on there. I've learnt so much from creators who share their skills on there, knitters, crocheters, quilters, journalers, and watercolour artists.
Netflix and Prime have some good shows but some of it is utter shit, it's true for any platform.

If what they’re watching isn’t offensive or inappropriate I’d just let them get on with it. Unfortunately that’s what all their age group seem to enjoy watching and it means they’ll have more to chat about socially with their friends which is important too. Eventually they do get bored and seek out other things to watch. (Ds aged 10 is exactly the same)!

Why do children of that age need a TV in their playroom?

I agree - my daughter went through a phase of watching YouTube and her behaviour was horrendous! I think the shows are so fast moving and there's so much going on, it just becomes a sensory overload. She doesn't have a tablet and was just watching it on the TV but I've banned it now.
I've also never got into YouTube for anything - I'd much rather read about something than watch a video, and i was a couple of years before Zoella etc, so it's never been something in my life!

DS1 gets to watch his niche interests which is good, and he likes informative content along with the gamer crap so he does get engaging information that's otherwise hard to come by.

DS2 just likes gamer crap.

2020 nuked many of my ongoing battles at regulating screen time/ content. I do have boundaries, but they are weaker than they once were. Mine like youtube on the TV and while it can be eargrinding, at least I know what the algorithms put their way and it is merely distasteful to my adult sensibilities rather than actively harmful. I prefer the standard youtube content to the Kids version.

I like things like fitness, workouts and technique/ blogs. There is a lot of good content in there if you've got the interest to look for it. With kids, developing those interests is the hard bit, and they do need some space to run with childish interests; it just manifests differently today because the media and choices are different and runs on in a seamless, high octane, infinite algorithm

My two are only allowed it in the living room in the afternoons when I can supervise what they are watching.

They love the science and engineering videos where people make elaborate contraptions and they are fab. But a lot of stuff on there is shite and even with the filters on I wouldn't let them have it unsupervised.

There is absolutely good stuff on YouTube but gets be honest, pretty much al of YouTube kids is trash. The good stuff is going to be clips from shows which are already available on BBC, Netflix...

My LOs do not watch YT, it's completely mindless nonsense. Watching other children play with toys, weird-looking cartoons, paw patrol non-stop live, huggy wuggy...

@creepie off to look up Huggy Wuggy.........😂

I first heard about it through the schools newsletter, I misread and thought it was part of the curriculum😂

(Turns out children in KS1 are watching that creature)

Take the TV out of the playroom.

YANBU. Of course there is great stuff on YouTube. But most children get drawn to the highly addictive crap on it. My children discovered Minecraft tutorials and then wanted to watch nothing else. It’s been blocked on our Wi-Fi for almost 3 years now and no-one misses it. The children didn’t have it long enough for it to become completely entrenched in their lives. I can unblock it if we need to watch a YouTube clip for school or to help me unblock a drain or something!

I’m not anti TV at all but YouTube is such a massive waste of kids time and there is some real dross out there.

I now call ahead when we stay in a hotel or holiday cottage and if the tv has a YouTube app I ask for it to be blocked or for the remote controls to be removed if it can’t be blocked. Otherwise my smallest will immediately start watching bloody Preston the Minecraft person and gets sucked in fast.

my children can watch tv moderately, play switch moderately etc. they cannot seem to find any moderation with YouTube!

Oh, and I have no problem AT ALL with my children playing Minecraft. I just don’t like them sitting for hours, barely blinking while they watch some American man child play and try to sell them “merch”.

I let my kids (9 and 11) watch YouTube on my account, as it allows me to curate their watch history. They do watch some random crap, but they also follow their own interests and have picked up a lot of random knowledge from it. My son is Minecraft obsessed, and YouTube tutorials have helped him with creating his own mods, which I think is pretty useful as it steers him towards coding (although I hate the constant propaganda they get that coding is "bad", as in "learn to do xyz without writing any code!". Bah.)

The one I am getting antsy about are the YouTube shorts. My daughter's become a little addicted to those, and I don't think they are great for attention span. Plus, they make it harder for me to know what she is viewing!

Youtube isn't really suitable for children. Think of it akin to who you let them interact with in real life.

You've got adults who've been vetted who you trust them with, such as teachers. That's the equivalent of letting them watch TV channels - there are rules and checks in place. There are bad apples and people make mistakes, but things are usually safe.

Then you've got random adults who are mostly harmless (because the majority of people aren't actually wanting to cause harm), but some are not. Unsupervised access with these is like allowing them to watch Youtube. There are rules in place (Ts & Cs on Youtube, laws in real life) to prevent harm, but it only takes a moment of you not directly supervising things for something bad to happen. Usually it won't, occasionally it might, but when things go wrong they can go very wrong.

I absolutely hate it. I’m quite generous about telly but YouTube is mindless drivel, with zero editorial control and an algorithm that’s designed to keep kids watching and watching.

I’ve taught DD (6) that it’s designed that way to make YouTube money and she’s taken that on board.

I allow it for really specific things like something that’s not available anywhere else (monster meditation). We watch it together and I turn it off when it’s over. I do the same for some very specific rock music videos I like that DD likes too! 😂

DS is 4 and has never watched it.

So you didn’t let them watch YouTube for whatever reasons and then did. Now you are complaining. Erm just stop them watching it again? If they put it on, turn it off, make it clear they aren’t to use it if the app can’t be deleted

YT rocks. I love it and have learned so much from it; music; a wealth of DIY techniques etc. o honestly could live without any other media, TV etc apart from this.

I follow various channels on camping; vanlife; urban gardening and music. Such genuine and engaging people without all the make up, media fake BS.

No way would I let a child on there unsupervised though.

Thanks all! Lots of similar options to mine here - going to set a 20 min limit I think as they both love it and work so hard at school, have after school clubs / sports most days, always do homework and reading etc so I’m fine with them having downtime and although it garbage they love it. If they can’t stick to limit then I’ll delete it (when I can work out how to do it! ). Today they watched a national geographic show on there about sharks, was great. So no I don’t think YouTube in itself is awful just the stuff they seem to pick (the algorithm picks for them)

Kids these days like different stuff to we did as kids as life is completely different. As long as it’s harmless I don’t see the issue