My son is still young, almost 8, so I’m speaking for near that age level. He doesn’t get unrestricted access to YouTube. If he’s watching YouTube, it’s with one of us present and helping him navigate it. He always wants to watch the video that’s the lowest quality shit just based on the thumbnail, because they have thumbnails that stick out. I’ve taught him about “low quality” content and we’ve watched a couple so he could understand what I meant. Now, when he wants to watch something like that, I say “no, that’s going to be low quality,” he seems to understand and we move on to find something else.
Eventually, I’m going to let him navigate YouTube alone sometimes, and then go back and look at his watch history to see how things are going. He doesn’t know watch history is a thing, nor will I ever tell him. If things go off the rails, we will guide them back to the rails slowly and nonjudgmentally
That said, we were at a restaurant the other day and a woman was there with her baby and a friend. She set that infant in a high chair with AI slop on her phone right in its face. The kid definitely didn’t disturb her conversation, because it looked like a zombie. Godspeed, child
Remember that watch history has the largest impact on what recommended videos will appear in his feed.
Curating the watch history is insanely effective, I have done it for a decade and it has helped me keep my feed 92% politics free, and 98% toxic masculinity free, I never knew about Tate until I started seeing reddit posts about what a terrible person he is.
I would actually show him this when he is old enough.
My strategy about this was to remove any content I don’t specifically want recommendations from, but has shifted to a more permissive stance where I will focus on removing videos that specifically harms my recommendations.
Definitely the case! I’m not always on top of this myself, but I do go in and remove anything that may poison my recommendations. At this point, I just get plants, history, and a splash of comedy. Thank you for bringing this to the fore!
He always wants to watch the video that’s the lowest quality shit just based on the thumbnail, because they have thumbnails that stick out.
There’s an add-on by the same guy who makes sponsorbock that replaces thumbnails (and video tittles) for more more accurate ones, maybe you want to try that.
(Disclaimer: The add-on itself is free software (as in freedom) but the developer added the restriction that after one hour trial you can either pay or wait 24h and then you can use it without restriction. It’s an interesting model.)
This is good parenting. You can’t always be there to guide them or restrict them, nor should you want to be. You instead help them understand how to navigate the world themselves smartly. This is true for anything, not just what they see on the internet.
That said, we were at a restaurant the other day and a woman was there with her baby and a friend. She set that infant in a high chair with AI slop on her phone right in its face. The kid definitely didn’t disturb her conversation, because it looked like a zombie.
This should be illegal, because it is harming the child. It should be viewed the same as giving it alcohol to keep it quiet.
My son is still young, almost 8, so I’m speaking for near that age level. He doesn’t get unrestricted access to YouTube. If he’s watching YouTube, it’s with one of us present and helping him navigate it. He always wants to watch the video that’s the lowest quality shit just based on the thumbnail, because they have thumbnails that stick out. I’ve taught him about “low quality” content and we’ve watched a couple so he could understand what I meant. Now, when he wants to watch something like that, I say “no, that’s going to be low quality,” he seems to understand and we move on to find something else.
Eventually, I’m going to let him navigate YouTube alone sometimes, and then go back and look at his watch history to see how things are going. He doesn’t know watch history is a thing, nor will I ever tell him. If things go off the rails, we will guide them back to the rails slowly and nonjudgmentally
That said, we were at a restaurant the other day and a woman was there with her baby and a friend. She set that infant in a high chair with AI slop on her phone right in its face. The kid definitely didn’t disturb her conversation, because it looked like a zombie. Godspeed, child
Remember that watch history has the largest impact on what recommended videos will appear in his feed.
Curating the watch history is insanely effective, I have done it for a decade and it has helped me keep my feed 92% politics free, and 98% toxic masculinity free, I never knew about Tate until I started seeing reddit posts about what a terrible person he is.
I would actually show him this when he is old enough.
My strategy about this was to remove any content I don’t specifically want recommendations from, but has shifted to a more permissive stance where I will focus on removing videos that specifically harms my recommendations.
Definitely the case! I’m not always on top of this myself, but I do go in and remove anything that may poison my recommendations. At this point, I just get plants, history, and a splash of comedy. Thank you for bringing this to the fore!
There’s an add-on by the same guy who makes sponsorbock that replaces thumbnails (and video tittles) for more more accurate ones, maybe you want to try that.
(Disclaimer: The add-on itself is free software (as in freedom) but the developer added the restriction that after one hour trial you can either pay or wait 24h and then you can use it without restriction. It’s an interesting model.)
Removed by mod
This is good parenting. You can’t always be there to guide them or restrict them, nor should you want to be. You instead help them understand how to navigate the world themselves smartly. This is true for anything, not just what they see on the internet.
Found the part most parents struggle with!
This should be illegal, because it is harming the child. It should be viewed the same as giving it alcohol to keep it quiet.
I’m going for the hail mary pass and taking the stance that we need to send our youth back down into the mines.
We do already, it’s called Minecraft.
They yearn for it!
Damn good answer. Proud of you
Look into DeArrow (by same creators of SponsorBlock), which offers crowdsourced “de-clickbaited” video titles and thumbnails.
Unpopular opinion: I have a second phone logged into my kid’s YT account. I train the algorithm while he’s sleeping.
It takes a significant time, and YouTube doesn’t have good options for blocking content, but it helps keep out the worst of the brainrot.
So, basically a future “people of walmart” 20 years before it happens. So like an orgin story for idiocy.