Because kids spend too much time on YouTube, parents want to delete the application. That is to lessen the screentime of kids. Kids seem to be watching too many videos online during the pandemic.
Even before the coronavirus outbreak, the screentime of children has always been an issue for parents. For some parents, they limit the screen time of kids by imposing rules; for others, they choose not to give their children any screen time.
However, in a recent post in a Facebook parenting group that has almost 40,000 members, concerns of parents over the application, YouTube, has been raised.
The Facebook post
In the parenting group, a mom asked how she can control the content that her daughter could see and watch on YouTube. Instead of giving her advice on how to do that, over a hundred comments suggested that the mom should delete YouTube altogether.
Research on advertisements on YouTube
According to research from Common Sense Media, most of the content that children have seen on YouTube, although kid-appropriate, has ads that include pervasive advertising. The research says, "for kids who are watching videos on YouTube, one in five videos viewed by children age eight and under contained ads that often included pervasive and inappropriate advertising, violence, and other questionable content."
That is also one of the major reasons why parents would want to delete YouTube altogether.
YouTube Kids
In 2015, YouTube gave parents the option to customize the videos being watched by children. YouTube Kids is an alternative option for children. Through this option, parents can choose which advertising or political ads should be banned in the YouTube Kids account.
However, there are still reports that some inappropriate content still goes through and is still seen by children.
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Parents' thoughts
In an article published by Good Morning America, some parents shared their thoughts about why they are careful about streaming apps like Facebook.
One mom, Christina Ella, said that she finds the content suggestions of YouTube and YouTube Kids to be way beyond the developmental age of children. What she worries the most about is that once this content is seen or heard by her children it cannot be undone. As she puts it, "It can't be unseen. It can't be unheard."
Because of this, Ella no longer allows her children to watch YouTube, except for a certain show, Cosmic Kids Yoga. The kids are only allowed to watch if there is adult supervision.
Some parents, on the other hand, take extra precautions when allowing their kids to use YouTube. These parents are the ones who are not yet ready to delete YouTube because of the stress brought by the pandemic.
