AIBU to think parents will break the social media rules for summerborn children’s GCSE revision?

[SummerAutumnborn]

So as a parent of a September born child my child will be able to access YouTube educational videos before their GCSEs start. Some of these resources are excellent.

Their best friend (August born) will not be able to access any videos before the GCSEs start unless their parents break the rules.

At A-Level my child will have unlimited access their best friend won’t - a problem for kids who access sports clubs in the evening and want to revise before bed.

Summer borns have an educational disadvantage anyway - will this widen the gap further? Here is a BBC article from a few years ago.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23435439

Am I being unreasonable thinking parents who agree with the SM ban will break the rules if it disadvantages their summer born child?

Out of interest for those of you who do support the social media ban are you going to say to your child that they cannot access exam resources on YouTube and X even if they are better than school and BBC resources? Or when it comes to an educational advantage will you find it acceptable to break the rules and allow access?

I disagree with the ban btw so would have no issue if it affected my child.

And why won’t they be able to access these? I don’t have a YouTube account and I can watch YouTube videos…

We home ed and so a lot of the subjects my dc is sitting are iGCSE which YouTube has been invaluable for because there are sometimes fewer available resources than for the GCSE. Also for some subjects it is advised to watch videos of case studies and have general knowledge around the subject again these are on YouTube.

He started sitting exams aged 14 so yes I would and will happily break it so he can access good revision tools,

Watching videos is not a useful revision strategy.

in the same way that reading the textbook is not a good revision strategy.

what works is;

knowing what topics you need to revise and which ones you are secure on (mostly comes from end of year 10 exams and mocks analysis).

there is no benefit to watching a video in a topic you can already do and get full marks in any question on it.

good revision is focused on topics you are less secure on and usually involves actively doing stuff - doing questions, writing answers, and then checking them against the markscheme.

not watching videos.

Well, for all people being a bit dismissive about it, there are long-established and well trusted resources on YouTube. It's not right for every kid as a revision aid, but for some it's extremely helpful, especially if they don't have parents who are able to help with some subjects.

My oldest didn't use them at all, but I think some of them would be useful for our DS next year and he doesn't turn 16 until after his GCSEs will be finished.

That said, the loss of direct access to them may be balanced out by DS watching less YT, which is the only affected app he uses (and also he's not determined enough to do workarounds) - although obviously the controls aren't kicking in straight away.

That made me laugh as it is actually as simple as that.
You wont be able to comment etc, but you can still watch videos.

Whatever you think to the content quality on YouTube, I think there’s a good point here about disadvantaging children born later in a school year. I’ve said for years that for things like driving, drinking and voting, eligibility should be determined by school year. I think the same idea would work well here.

BBC could move their content onto YouTube kids. I can’t imagine it’ll be hard to circumvent though between parents allowing use of their account, not logging in or a vpn.

I’m genuinely really confused by this because can’t they just watch them by not signing in?

I will also happily continue to let my younger sons watch educational stuff on YT or just things that they are interested in like Lego tutorials or one of them enjoys videos about machinery and engineering. I am happy for them to watch these things, they are supervised on YT anyway, some of us don’t actually need to be told how to parent. .

I agree YouTube can be useful, but your concerns are misplaced.

The new law is aimed at preventing social media companies from allowing children to have their own accounts. Parents can still legally allow their children to use the parent's account.

And children will still be able to view content on YouTube, they just won't be able to create an account (so won't be able to comment, or upload content).

This is a very bizzare thing to worry about.

No one needs a YouTube login to watch revision videos.

Maybe I am misunderstanding but they are just stopping under 16 creating accounts? Stopping them from commenting/getting algorithms feeding them addictive stuff is not a negative.

Yes. Which means they'll be able to watch anything that isnt age-restricted.

The OP is worrying about nothing.

Yes, the ban is literally they are not allowed their own accounts. They can still use a guest one etc.

This was exactly my understanding of it.

An adult can download a video and let a child watch it. That isn’t children using social media, that is being played a video by a trusted adult.

Or a child can watch it themselves, without signing in.

Can’t imagine TikTok is the pinnacle of gcse revision and no other resources could possibly keep up.

YouTube kids is an exception so access to the educational stuff should be fine.

Since when has YouTube been considered social media? Social media is IG, FB, TT, X etc. YT is just watching stuff and commenting if it’s allowed.

Obviously educational content hosted anywhere is fine, but just watch out for what else they have access to on that platform.

Also our generation had zero online exam prep and managed just fine so I wouldn’t worry about this.

I recommend writing notes, colouring in and drawing simple pictures on the notes to aid the memory while re-reading them, then reading the notes on to a tape player (or iPhone voicenote that will be these days!) and playing it back while going to sleep as their own revision podcast.

That’s how I learned it all and got straight As. Forgotten it all now tho!!!! 😂

I know my daughter used some
sxience videos on you tube she said were fantastic

Oh for goodness sake they can watch on an adult account. Do people really follow rules so blindly? Nobody is spying in your home. Watching revision videos is quite literally the opposite of criminal behaviour!

The point of YouTube it to comment and engage with videos both long and short form, in what way would TikTok or Instagram be classed as social media but not YouTube?

I think the bigger issue will be summer borns being sidelined by friends as they aren’t on the SM for contact. Parents will sign up for them I think. It should be by year group at school, not age. Summer borns are last to drive, last to drink and last to vote. We are a totally summer born family and in August no e comes to your party either!

They wouldn’t even have to watch on an adult account, you don’t need an account to watch YouTube videos.

Educational platforms will be a accessible. Also my DD managed 8/9s and all A stars for A levels without watching a single TikTok or YouTube video.