YouTube is the leading website for searching and watching video-based content online. It has been evolving to expand and diversify itself even more, integrating itself further into the lives of its audience and users. Everyone can watch any kind of content, from kids to teenagers to adults. This raises the question: If every type of content is available on YouTube to watch, is it safe for kids to use? Is there any way parents can specify the content coming onto the feed of their kids?

In this blog, UnityFilms will discuss the parent’s guide to navigating the platform so that YouTube for kids can become completely safe for your kids to use, even without direct presence, constant interference, and scrutiny.

So, let’s start!

What is YouTube Kids?

YouTube Kids is an app developed by Google to ensure a child-friendly experience for users who fall below a certain age. The need for the development of a separate platform for kids arose owing to the availability of all kinds of content (content that was not suitable for kids to watch) unrestricted on YouTube. Though the platform has some rules restricting the upload and dissemination of content violating the purpose of YouTube, children still come across obscene or inappropriate content, making it essential to build an app that caters to the specialized needs and interests of kids only.

Age-Based Content Settings on YouTube Kids

If you want to be age-specific about the content seen by your kids, you can choose the content experience for your child in the range of preschool, younger, and older kids. As for preschool, children below age four fall under it. The content that comes under this age is specially chosen based on the cognitive development stage and the understanding level of the kids of that age. That is why animated stories, colors, shapes, and animals’ names (the content shown primarily in kindergarten) are displayed to the kids.

Going up in the second category, there is content for kids between the ages of 5 and 8. As the content starts falling in this range, it becomes less cartoonish and more about incorporating diverse interests and concepts of deeper understanding. Last comes the level: older- the level that deals with the age between 9 and 12. This content setting revolves more around music, gaming, and vlogs, as kids of this age are mature enough to understand things at a deeper level.

How to Make YouTube Safer for Kids?

However, YouTube Kids is a lot safer than regular YouTube. Still, inappropriate or, better say, kid-unfriendly content appears out of cracks. The platform recognizes the exploitation of existing loopholes by the users and the content creators; therefore, it allows parents to review the content and flag the inappropriate content through reports.

Apart from that, YouTube, on its own, maintains a check on the videos uploaded by analyzing the standards of community-created content through algorithms. Here are a few tips that parents can follow to make their kids’ YouTube navigation experience better;

• Use YouTube supervised experience to monitor the search and watch history, and filter out the content that seems to you potentially mature. 
• Set a time limit for when your kid can watch YouTube. This feature can help you regulate and monitor your kid’s screen time.
• Turn off the search feature so that your kids can only watch the content you have selected for them. You can change the content restriction strategy easily from your family link app. 
• Use a custom passcode to manage the control menu that allows users to manipulate the video’s playback through different interactive buttons.

How to Set Up YouTube Parental Control? Are

You must know how to set up YouTube parental control to manage YouTube Kids’ online experience. Here’s how you can put up an extra layer of protection.

• The first thing you need for that is a YouTube Kids log-in from your Google account.
• Then, go to manage your parental settings. Once you are into your YouTube dashboard with your Google account, you can find parental control in the account settings options.
• After that, link your child’s account to yours. Adjust the content settings based on your child’s age and your own interest. For assistance, YouTube has divided the content management based on age tier: Explore for age nine or older, Explore More for kids older than thirteen, and Most of YouTube covering the entire platform except for videos that are particularly labelled as for adults.

Features Included in YouTube’s Parental Controls

YouTube parental controls allow parents to disable autoplay, which will stop YouTube from playing videos automatically one after another. Parents mostly use this feature to prevent their kids from binge-watching the content or entering into the endless loop of content-watching.

Apart from that, you can make your kid watch only that content that is approved by you by way of switching on the “Approved Only Content Mode.” You can track their watch and search history, deliberately block certain kinds of videos and channels, and implement family link to protect your child’s privacy beyond the YouTube app. In addition, you can restrict YouTube from recommending your kids based on their watch history by way of clearing their watch history.

Is YouTube Parental Control Protection Enough?

 YouTube parental control is, indeed, a helpful first step in keeping your child safe on YouTube; however, it is far from foolproof. A resourceful child could easily work their way around those restrictions either by creating a new account or just by figuring out how to change the settings. Regardless, it is also important to consider that YouTube’s standards for what is considered appropriate for your child may not align with your own. The content that passes through YouTube filters unhindered could still be something that you don’t prefer your child to see.

Final Thoughts

Indeed, YouTube is an ever-growing platform. Since most kids these days prefer watching content on YouTube from their mobile rather than traditional Television, it is increasingly becoming important to make the platform representative of the likes, dislikes, and interests of all viewers. YouTube fully takes that concern factor of parents into account, making it inclusive and safer for kids.

If you are a content creator specializing in the YouTube kids channel niche, contact UnityFilms now for content creation and management.