One of the things that make Youtube so successful is its ability to host user-created content and make it available for everyone to see, transforming the website into a treasure trove of information.
On it you have access to a cornucopia of content — from beauty tutorials and cooking videos to history classes and web shows.
But this very nature of free-for-all makes Youtube dangerous for unsupervised children.
One mum learned this the hard way.
In her Facebook post, mum Elfiana Quraisha’s recounts how a mother-daughter bonding took an unexpected turn.
Photo credit: Elfiana Quraisha / Facebook
“Was watching Frozen Colouring Book with my child before leaving her for 5mins,” she says. “When I came back, she happened to just select on this video.”
At first it didn’t seem as though there was something wrong with the video, but the suddenly it started showing sexually explicit imagery. At which point, Elfiana took the phone away from her daughter.
“Always keep a lookout at what your kids are watching on Youtube,” she warns.
Although Youtube has strict regulations about uploading content containing sensitive material (gore, bullying, violence, sex, etc.), some manage to slip. Some videos even manage to stay up for weeks and moths before someone reports it.
Parents then have to make sure that they constantly monitor their children’s activity not only on the website but on the internet as a whole.
Making YouTube safer for your kids
Making your children’s YouTube experience fun and safe is possible, but it does take a little bit of effort on your part as a parent.
Dan Tynan, in his Yahoo! article, offers parents some tips to help protect their children while browsing on the website.
- Set up a family account. With it, you can monitor the videos your child is watching. Not only that, you can also set age requirements, preventing them access from content that geared towards adults.
- Turn on safety mode. This feature enables the website to automatically filter out offensive content.
- Create playlists. This is especially useful if your children are young and you want them to see videos that you have specifically seen and approved, eliminating the chance of them accidentally stumbling upon questionable video.
- Eschew the tube. “If policing YouTube content is too much of a hassle,” says Dan, “you can block it using a Web filter and redirect your kids to family-friendly video sites. ”
The Facebook post has since been taken down.