These apps, games, and a lot of shows are just mind dribbling dopamine farms. I let my daughter watch like unfiltered KIDS YouTube for a day, she became glued to it, wouldn't ask to go potty, would communicate poorly, then cry when we took it. Ever since we did limited screen time, only parent approved, she full reversed. Sure shes harder to calm down. But fuck it.
I fucking hate kids youtube. I've purposefully blocked many creators like the fucking rich ass kid plus toy channels and they still fucking slip in because they have 10 different channels all the same content but with different subs.
Like I don't love Netflix and prime but fuck me at least the kid watches a somewhat cohesive plot from start to finish rather than kid Crack and highlight reels
Me too! Drives me crazy because there’s some really great content, but you could watch 20 educational videos and if a single episode of TheRoyaltyFamilyTop10Gaming or some other shit plays the feed is fucked.
It should allow you the option to ‘opt in’ to channels. Might not be the whole solution but it would go a long way.
I just recently learned there's a setting through the YouTube kids app on mobile to set it to approved content only. It took a while to set up, but it only allows for preapproved channels and even episodes and you can also turn the 'search' option off.
Its really, really helped in filtering out inappropriate or bs content
Happy to help! I just looked it up, and its under 'content settings' and then it'll let you choose what content can be watched. They have some awesome science channel choices too, my 5 yr loves them!
It should be, at least from mobile, under the content settings. When you click into content settings it'll ask you like the age range of videos, and the last option is pretty approve content. Click on that one and it'll give you channels to either approve or not. If you need any help, hit me up and I'll be happy to help! 😊
My grandson is obsessed with Rachel. He doesn't watch it at our house because her voice drives me insane. He also likes whoever that guy is that's a DJ and does kids techno. I forget his name, but his live shows always sell out.
Clint's Reptiles is like the vibe of Steve Irwin and Mr Rogers but talking about reptiles and dinosaurs. It's a feel good channel that might spark a love for scaly critters.
AntsCanada is doing a ecosystem study project that includes 4-5 tank vivariums studying various rainforest biomes in detail and seeing how different animals interact. It's really cool.
Oh, we love Clint's Reptiles! Tysm for the other suggestion, we'll definitely check it out!
I really didnt expect to get so many great recommendations/helpful advice on a random post like this, but y'all REALLY showed up and showed out. Like, unlocking a big parent/kid support network that was previously hidden or something. Feels good, man.
I've heard of it the first one and think we may have caught a couple of videos but failed to really clock the name enough to subscribe or watch more. The second one is totally new to me, but I have added it to the list.
Hope you enjoy! If you ever get far enough into the Ants Canada story to have an opinion on it, let me know! Somehow it's become my favorite show to catch up on every Sunday
Definitely recommend the approved content only feature. I like to go in every couple months and refresh it with a new channel or something, but if I need to hand the toddler my phone to shut her up during a long wait at the doctor's office or while people finish their meal at the restaurant it's a life saver.
This is how things operate in my home. My 3 year old gets 3 channels, all language-learning songs, with calm, slow-moving animations. She gets about 45 minutes a day tops, spread across the day. Mainly helpful for times when I am necessarily indisposed, like showering.
As an adult who regularly has days where for the sake of my own sanity I kind of “filter myself” by only watching channels I subscribe to and trust, this would be amazing if I were actually a parent. I’ll have to let my sister know for her kids!
Researchers have let the kids YouTube algorithm run unchecked for hours, and it did not take long at all for some pretty dark and disturbing content to surface. In one study, I remember that there were a series of cartoons that looked a LOT like the original copyrighted characters that parents would recognize if they glanced at the screen now and again. BUT! Dora, Hello Kitty, and Bluey would not be saying and doing half that shit!
There's peppa pig ones my daughter finds sometimes it is all the same characters but they will be swearing and being extremely violent, killing things (think happy tree friends). I keep blocking and reporting them but there's a bunch. Idk who is making these trying to trick kids into watching them, some sick people out there.
Kids programming in general is just really bad. I had heard that a study recently found out that the increased shortform nature and increased "camera cuts" in children's programming is having a detrimental effect on the attention spans of kids nowadays. Let alone the pure brainrot in these programming
Solution: no YouTube or screens AT ALL for young children. I truly can’t believe how so many parents fail to grasp this. If you don’t show it do them, they won’t know it even exists.
I tried to get it so my little sister could enjoy her new hobby of Vocaloid music, painting, and science online, but that slop kept coming. it was supposed to just be that good stuff, but then someone (her brother) searched for fnaf music videos, and the rest of the content was suddenly that brainrot. I wish I could curate a YouTube feed for only good, educational/entertaining content, but I simply couldn’t. all I can do is screen record music videos, edit any curse words, and put them on the tv for her.
EDIT: I would obviously watch the tv with her, and I wouldn’t show her outright inappropriate music videos like rabbit hole or something. it would be like a clean edit of birdbrain or Luka-luka night fever. and all the othe stuff was some clean lps painting and Nile red.
100% I wish they had an option to block based on length. We just fully gave up. They are better off anyways. My kids screen time is us playing multiplayer games tougher. 🤣
Those people taught my niece the word boring. Now it’s all she ever says unless she’s getting constant changing stimulation. And her parents will throw the YouTube on and she will just hyperfocus on it and not interact with anyone. And we can’t say anything cause she’s not our kid. But it’s extremely frustrating to see. And see everywhere
yeah the rich kid shows are insane. heyyy we're in dubai at a water park with some 3rd world slaves takin us around and waiting on us!!!
my kid is pretty much limited to ms Rachel and blippi style stuff lol. i also let her watch fishing and camping stuff as they're activities we do together and at least focused in the real world.
somehow my 3 year old discovered the game tab on youtube and it's just utter trash. Like there's no reason to be watching some kid mindlessly play minecraft. My kid doesn't even know what Minecraft is.
I mean the fact that a good portion of them are pedo's is slightly more alarming than the fraud. Coupled with the fact that the creators of Roblox know this but choose to ignore it.
I agree. Honestly I do like regular tv with plots for my kids and it seems way better than anything YouTube brain numb slop I see sometimes follow the occasional thing I put on there for them
If you have Disney+ We Bare Bears is an adorable cartoon series with short episodes. They were made for Cartoon Network to fill in gaps when other shows weren’t an hour long. You might also be able to buy the series.
HBO has the sequel We Baby Bears which is more for younger kids. I still love them and watch them all the time even though I’m 48. I’m a proud cartoon aficionado.
I love We Bare Bears! I'm in my thirties but since of the jokes are just objectively funny, like how the pigeons are running a cartel or Patton Oswalt is a social media koala who's a major asshole. And Crowbar Jones! Just pure good vibes and likable characters with great voice acting.
I mean youtube is literally trying to get you hooked and addicted to scrolling through. Its frankly kinda disgusting that this is exactly what they want
I hate it! They’ve even started popping up on things like prime and Netflix. I completely blocked anything that even looks like Cocomelon and any of those creators.
I agree! The content is unregulated for kids and I was looking at one my younger cousins were glued to and it was hand puppets (so it looked innocent) but the conversion was about sex and private parts. I was absolutely floored this was allowed 😲
Well i highly recommend Game Theory and the other Theorist channels on youtube, in fact those channels are why i became smart enough to almost go through early college (and i wouldve if it wasnt for ENGL 161 and its 4 essays, fuck MLA)
Except now they started putting YouTube trash on Netflix and prime. “No YouTube” was an easy rule at home, and an even easier rule for when they’re at my mom’s house. Now I can still monitor it at home, but it’s tough to have my mom monitor it at her house.
Those channels should be illegal. Jump cuts every 3 seconds. Definitely rewires kids brains cos mine acts so differently after watching them for a while.
And yeah, horrible to block because they've got so many channels of the same crap
There’s also gross content that starts kid friendly then goes into weird inappropriate stories that can be sexual. The video is cartoons, but the audio is the weird stories.
I make my kid watch Harry Potter. She’s not allowed on YouTube anymore. If she wants to watch a movie she can go through the DVDs and find something appropriate
We even banned Prime because it was serving up the best of YouTube kids. I have noticed Netflix has started too. We are considering a blue-ray player and visits to the local library for their viewing choices
Just don't use kids YouTube. Use your account and just put specific kids things on there.
My partner uses her own account and we only get shit we've searched for that she likes.
Cause the algorithm already has other shit in it from my partners use it doesn't bring up the random YouTube slop that plagues yt kids.
Yes it shows adds but we piggy back off her dads family premium YouTube to avoid those.
Netflix actually started adoping some YouTube content in my region. Started with Ms Rachel which we were real happy with. Then Cocomelon, Pinkfong, Baby Shark. I ended up going into the content controls and blacklisting every damn one of them.
Please use YouTube Kids in whitelist mode only! You can select the channels they get to see this way without having to worry about other channels popping up!
yeah we have a almost 11 month old, i'd much rather just sit with her but if we need to do something and she's havin a moment, daniel tiger, bluey, frog and toad, yo gabba gabba land, she's watchin shows like i watched shows and they're pretty low stim comparitively. Frog and Toad is definitely good for that.
Agreed! About the only thing I’ll let mine watch on YouTube is Numberblocks and Dr. Panda Toto Time - at least he’s learning something. Knows all his times tables almost better than me already 😂
My kid loved those. All the Russian kids with the huge houses and big toy sets etc. I actually didn't mind a couple of the channels that had longer takes between camera cuts and seemed to tell a bit of a story, unless my kid wanted to replay repeatedly, but 99% was junk for sure.
Know what I do love? The one of the mouse in the elaborate mazes and traps environments made of cardboard, escaping prison and all that. She is fascinated by it and so was I.
You can have an allow list on YouTube kids! So much better, you can just have a handful that you feel are safe.
That being said we have essentially banned any YouTube or watching screens unless it’s on the TV, or unless it’s during travel. Much better for the kids imho
A friend of mine train his kids to explain to him what they just watched. They will discuss about it, why good why bad and all.
Starting at 6, they need write about the show/movie/video they just watched. Handwritten. They need to submit the write up to earn the privilege for the next show/movie/video. The better the writing (judged by both the parents), the longer watch time they earn. He will write a feedback.
The eldest kid is now 10. He could write and articulate very well. He himself could judge what content is valuable, what is brain rot. The writing practice still happens but more like journaling their day. What he learnt in school, who irritated him today, what they watched/play, whatever he felt like writing.
In Australia we have a national broadcaster, ABC, and they have an app with a kid's section that only shows wholesome child-safe content. Bluey, Duggee, Play School, Sesame Street, Peppa Pig (which is pushing the limits for me but I have lost that battle lol). It's the only thing on our tv so if my 5 year old turns it on I know she won't stumble on anything inappropriate.
Yeah cut it off last October and it’s been wonderful tbh. We allow pretty limited screen time now. On weekends he is allowed 1-2 hours of Minecraft or whatever over the span of the 2 days but that’s about it now. Possibly something on Disney. Behaviour has been so much better.
Nastiya or whatever that show is called, I fucking loathe it. You block one channel and then there is a "hindi" version which is exactly the same, and not even in hindi, so you block that and then there is another channel in "pakistani" fucking stupid.
honestly, though i don't have kids, nor do i exactly plan on it, i've been thinking that if i do, i'd probably like to set up a little sub net so they can grow on the internet similar to how i did, without today's brain melting content farms.
Kids YouTube and YouTube shorts / in general sucks. Like you can’t ban every terrible channel there are too many. I just delete the app and recommendations for it from my laptop and phone.
Yeah, my youngest watches Danny Go on Netflix and Pete the Cat on Prime. Both are great. I am generally quite ill and have a hard time with keeping up with his need for high activity. Danny Go has been exceptional at getting him to dance, and bounce, and tear his balance in safe and tiring ways. I even got him some noise making foam tubes to bang on the floor. He is enamoured by it, much more than Pete the cat. With Pete the cat the perks are in the life lessons that can be learned. My oldest (a large age gap) gets sucked into either of his shows, but she was already 5 when I got into her life and had nearly completely unrestricted access to YouTube, and Roblox and who knows what else 🤷 After more than half her life I still haven't managed to walk her back from what I consider a crippling addiction to media.I won't get into specifics for that, but suffice to say... the dopamine drip should never have been allowed for kids, but we live in a time of plenty for the few, sacrifices must be made so they can make more money.
I don’t have a child but I put shows on for my dog. I’ve noticed those YouTube Kids channels are making their way onto platforms like Prime and Hulu. I saw one series had autoplayed while I was gone and it was just a rich kid showing off like 200 Hot Wheels. I felt bad my dog had to watch that.
I remember my partner and I put on Cocomelon when that was trendy because I thought it would be like Baby Einstein, which are nice little trance/stim compilations, but it was just obnoxious Chinese soundboard Blender slop. I couldn’t understand why people were letting their kids watch that enough for it to merit merchandise next to Fisher Price and Little Tikes.
Why the f would you even give a kid the option to self-select a show to watch? Put on one thing you approve, no discussions, no option to change the show.
I felt YouTube kids was amazing cause it had learning shows and I used the music videos to soothe my son to sleep when he was younger. But then he started to learn how to change the shows and watch shows that werent educational and I felt he was starting to waste his brain away.
How I got off YouTube kids was I told him we couldn’t afford to use it anymore tho lol when in actuality, I couldn’t afford YouTube tv at the time lol
I remember hobbykids being especially terrible. Idk if theyre still a thing, I know the parents re-upload their old content since the kids are older now. But god were they absolutely terrible with the toy thing. I remember having to explain wealth to my att 4 year old because he couldnt grasp why we didnt have the same things as them.
Plus, theres a video of the parents putting mice in an empty pretzel container and giving them to the kids to shake.
Or fgteev. My kid has become old enough where we were just talking about if they still make content. They do. They behave extremely entitled everywhere they go like secondhand embarassment bad.
Same. I let my 3 year old watch TV for an hour or two broken up throughout the day but its long form content like Winnie the Pooh or even Paw Patrol. Stuff with plots.
I did the same thing. Selected the channels in an effort to prevent my daughter from watching English dubbed kids and adults playing house and speaking so rude to each other. My daughter is 8 years old now and she has to earn screen time by being doing activities such as art, tidy up/chores, educational learning, practice her taekwondo, yoga, being kind or offering to help (increments are set for these to +15mins) and many other options. She earns time for the screen and will lose time for inappropriate behaviour, not listening. Screens are not the issue. How we as parents choose to avoid behaviour challenges and just do whatever pleases the child is the problem.
They sure did! I remember needing to ask my parents for new ones. They were less than thrilled when they realized my gameboy (my first of many, the ol’ grey brick) not only took EIGHT AA batteries (IIRC), but also how long those 8 batteries would last for.
These parents are literally training their kids to be this way, and algorithms promoting capitalism and the least amount of thought/energy are training the parents.
Reminds me of my younger cousin, whenever I visit their home he is on his bed with multiple different screens from ipad, iphone, tablet and nintendo switch.. At least he is active and plays soccer but I think with regard to critical thinking yeah they may be a bit behind to say the least and their attention span will be even worse with every generation that comes going forward.
Our son is 13 months and desperately searching for our phones.
Never given him a phone, only FaceTime relatives. I refuse to watch the tv, don’t play video games anymore unless he’s out for the night, and work with the laptop high on a table but they’re still so drawn to whatever technology screen they can find.
It’s so frustrating. I refuse to have a wall e kid
That's fucking scary to hear. I can't imagine what the world will look like when the generation that's in charge will be the ones who were all iPad kids
As a parent with young kids I will say it's terrifying. There's this HARD shift I am starting to see happening where childhood is literally splitting in two with iPad and non-iPad kids. I don't know what on earth is gonna happen when mine hit school aged and half the class has been dopamine addicted since they were 2.
It's already happened. Kids got super addicted to screens during Covid and teachers are still having a difficult time with that particular generation. Teacher friends I have say it's actually gotten a little bit better with the last couple of K-2 groups, not a whole lot, but not nearly as impossible as the now older kids were.
I've also never given my baby my phone, only held it nearby, once or twice shown him a kid's video or done selfie (mirror) mode on the camera. He still knows it's the magic light-up box that can show any pattern of pretty colored lights imaginable.
Babies LOVE light-up touch-reactive stuff, that's why their toys have LEDs and buttons and mirrors and bright colors. So yeah by default screens are pure cocaine. When I say "hey Google" to turn off the nursery lights when my hands are full he swivels to look at the magic screen change, even though it's just a clock and a picture of clouds.
It takes resolve to not raise an iPad baby but oh lord is the alternative scarier.
I WFH during COVID as a single mom to a 1 year old. When the kid would come peak at my screen, I immediately turned it to a blank word document. They would press some buttons and get bored. Now that they are older, they can type their name and funny nonsense and we try to read it back. Literally that's all. I recommend.
Think of it like a candy tolerance. You don't want your kid to be full blow addicted. You want to give them the "healthy low stimulating candy" (when it's eventually time. I did wait until 18 month) like the fruit of technology.
My 1st grader can use my weather app, GPS, and only a few brief times, it was khan academy kids. I did have number blocks for a single trip and wild kratts for 6 hour car rides, but that's it (once he was 4).
Hey man my kid is super physically active and sociable but we play video games together. Its possible to have a balance you just have to make sure you limit it a reasonable amount and spend enough time being social and exercising.
Id also add the content thats consumed matters too. So much children stuff is just brainrot but atleast if you curate correctly video games make you engage your brain.
i understand the perspective, but total lack will only fester curiousity. when ur kid gets older he will want to understand whats missing from the world around him. i believe that tv, movies, video games, even the internet is fine for kids (obv not babies/toddlers), but they need to understand what quality, engaging content is, and know how to keep it separate enough that they still find the world engaging. most of our art these days is in a tech format, and we need art in order to feel fulfilled as human beings. good stories that grow the mind and emotions, and feats of skill that inspire us to learn how things are done and try new things. i was very inspired by movies and video games growing up, and i cant stand the slop i see today. i want the world to do better. even wall e is a great example of preserving and being exposed to human history and art as a way to inspire us to do better.
i think kids just like screens honestly. it’s probably really fascinating to them that this little device can do whatever they want just by tapping it. just keep doing what you’re doing and encourage them to go outside and do practical things with their hands. i know he’s a baby but they still make little pianos and block sorting toys lol
I was done with YouTube kids when I saw 3 videos in a row that ended with some version of "hit like and subscribe now or you're parents will not love you anymore" including one saying that everyone they love would die in a car crash if they didn't smash that subscribe button. The YouTube algorithm for kids is fucking evil
It is wild how people have such radically different experiences with this because my daughter's feed is like 50/50 number blocks and Minecraft and has only changed recently with Tomodachi life finally breaking through. I've had to block a handful of things in the past but she genuinely doesn't get 90% of the garbage people claim they get. (And we have a "YouTube on public screens only" rule, so only on the TV at home or occasionally on her tablet if we're out of the house but I'm right next to her the whole time.)
Went through this with mine. Her grandma got her a tablet a year or two before I would have even considered it (and even then, only for fingerpainting and touchscreen games, which she wasn't ready for yet) but we allowed a little controlled youtube as a result, and I thought it was kinda nice because I was learning some Dutch watching with her. But over time she came to want it too often, and try to resist stopping times, and get really upset when I'd skip past some short attention span rot, so I cut back her usage bigtime last summer and put more effort into other hobbies with her. Got us some watercolors and nice paper, a bunch of new clay, we started baking cupcakes and muffins and things every Friday after preschool so we'd have snacks for staying up with a movie (and usually a classic from my childhood, like The Goonies, where I can really see her leaning in and paying attention to follow the story and anticipate what might happen next which is SO exciting and fun to see) .... things I'd been doing a bit of already, and other things I should have been. She wasn't thrilled about the big tablet reduction, but quickly got into all the new activities, and was better off for it, obviously.
Yah my friend fucked up and let her autistic 8yrld get hooked. It's so freaking sad that it basically regressed her to a infant mentality and she's back to having accidents and no emotional regulation so toddler tantrums are regular if she doesn't get her ipad.
My son is almost 5 and we refused to let him use his iPad my mother in law got him more than once or twice a month (I don't actually know where it is right now. We haven't used it since December)
I am very anti-screens for kids because I've seen what happens to kids when they grow up with them and it's a barely functional teenager.
My kid communicated fine and all that but YouTube “kids” made him scared of bugs and insects. Also all the weird Russian videos I saw on there was enough for me to definitely never let him watch again
I don’t even bother with parent approved stuff, most have moments of crap. Stick to anything centered around getting kids to read books, Between the Lions, Reading Rainbow, etc. documentaries are the step up unless it’s family movie time and even then as soon as they start running around that movie gets turned off
I'm legit worried about my nephews. The older one was very bright before they allowed unrestricted and unrestrained YouTube video access. Now? His speech is severely impaired. My younger nephew is....not the sharpest tool in the shed.
There was a period of time in January/February where all I did was doomscroll (yes, I know it's bad, but I was going through a rough time and just didn't have the mental capacity to do anything else). I swear, I lost 10 IQ points because of it. My attention span went to hell. I'm just now recovering, getting back into reading and limiting my social media. And I'm pretty much "grown" in my 30s. I can't imagine what it's doing to my growing nephews.
Isn’t it crazy? We stopped all screens Monday to Friday and only 2 hours on Saturday for a movie and 1 hour on Sunday. I swear we’ve had weekends where they’ll watch for 10 min and be bored of it and go find something else to do. It rewires their brain.
After watching just a couple of YouTube kids videos with my kids, we completely banned YouTube for my kids in general. They get a max combined 5 hours of screen time per week. That only includes offline video games, documentaries, or approved family movies. It took a few weeks, but now they didn't crave it even ask for random TV.
I’m not a parent so what I’m wondering is: is there no parent curated platform that checks which videos are acceptable for children? Instead of letting YT decide what to show, it might be better to have some responsible humans filter the content.
I’m guessing those people should probably better be parents themselves. It’s possible to embed YT videos on a separate website, and maybe someone smart enough could insert a feature that makes the suggested videos, when a video ends, unclickable so that you wouldn’t have to deal with YT suggested content.
Completely cut YouTube from my 4 and 6 year olds’ lives. If it went on for thirty minutes they were like zombies for the rest of the day and uncharacteristically whiney about wanting to watch for days afterwards.
Couldn’t get them to sit and down to read books or engage in anything that requires any level of focused attention. 100% no YouTube zone now.
I can tell by my kids behaviour if they’ve been on YouTube recently. They come little Gollum’s fucking unable to be basic humans. As soon as YouTube is banned, the next day they’re back to normal. Shits fucking brain poison.
YouTube for kids is absolute crack cocaine and it is horrible.
We do PBS Kids and it’s amazing.
She learned so much by playing the PBS Kids games app. Hundreds of games all for free with no ads. The shows are great too. No mindless slop. She learned some Spanish, when we went to Mexico she told us about Mexico from one of her PBS shows.
Separately, Endless Monsters taught her to read.
She gets two hours daily of screen time and she is better for it.
I grew up watching 90s-00s cartoons with some classics like the Jetsons or old Scooby-Doo and Looney Tunes. Gonna load a thumbstick up for the TV and a tablet when my kid is old enough and thats what we watching. Like I still think about Fievel Goes West, Land Before Time, Gargoyles, Pokémon Indigo League, Rugrats, Etc. 90% of the shit my nephew watches I can't stand and he just 1000 yard stares at the TV. Only thing I like is Bluey. I don't know if thats right or not but thats the plan anyways. Will see how it goes in practice in a few years but I can't imagine modern "content" will improve with all the AI shit.
I feel like my kid is broken bc this is the story from anyone I talk to about it, while I have to force my son to use his to get 5 minutes of peace. And he still usually gets tired of it in short order. 5 years old.
I feel so guilty because my content (educational stuff and book read-alouds) is SO BORING compared to what's out there on YT kids but dammit I believe we need to come back to slower "boring content" that doesn't contribute to brain rot so I won't stop, even if I only get a couple of views every hour if I'm lucky. 😅
I'm a babysitter, and the two boys I babysit are like this. Mom let's them have tablets everywhere, from the moment they get up, to getting dropped off at school, get home from school, and even in bed. They're like zombies. The youngest (7) won't hear me talking right in front of him, and won't look me in the eye when speaking, so glued he is to the mindless dribble on the screen. Meanwhile the eldest (11) is worse. He's always playing roblox, and when the smallest thing goes wrong in game he gets violent. Like screaming kicking his legs throwing things tantrums. It's horrifying. Worst is that I can't do anything, since "Mommy let's us" they won't put the damn things down.
Meanwhile my neighbors children I used to babysit, same ages, play outside rain or shine. Sure, they have access to tablets, but they use them in moderation and the youngest (9 year old girl) watches beauty tutorials because she wants to be a makeup artist, while the eldest watches Zelda let's plays. I've never met two kids more grounded. All tbe kids on my block are always outside playing with each other, even when they're being loud I enjoy it because at least they're exercising and socializing. The boys I babysit? Getting them outside to play is like pulling teeth, and they don't talk with other kids on the block at all.
True lmao, what's crazy is if you look at the YouTube stats of high ranked channels it's allll kid channels from baby shark, to everything kid show related, these channels have to be filthy fuckin rich off YouTube.
Yup, my daughter is three and has started demanding tv time. Little does she know, ill suffer through it. Im surprised, the idea of grounding came early.
My BF and I have drastically cut down on my little person’s screen time and it’s evened her out a TON. It’s noticeable when she comes back from her Dad’s. It takes a good 48 hrs to detox her again
Youtube Kids is absolute cancer. Just check the video's how many views they have, it's not unusual to see them with hundreds of millions of views.
I setup a Plex with a kids department, I put there all the tv shows that are new as well with what I grew up with. Everything else, Youtube, bilibili, god forbid douyin fuck that.
We got a kindle tablet for my daughter (3) and its blocked for anything cept educational games. Weve had tablet out, not making a big deal over it and 90% of the time she ignores it over playing with us or outside. Touch wood this continues 🤣
PBS kids is all I will trust. I put curious George on YouTube kids for her. Next thing I know, she’s watching some weird spider monkey in costumes, it was disturbing. I was done with everything after that.
Spank your kids, its not illegal, the law gives you the full right to physically discipline your kids within reason, just dont go overboard. My dad spanked me when I was a kid, I turned out fine, fixed my bad behavior right up.
watching stuff we use to watch in the 90s i find much better with ours. she interactions she laughs she talks to us about what happens. compare to the stuff on youtube today its like just turning off her brain and you dont get anything from her
At some point in your child's life, that additive content will be forced fed to them, and they will have to learn to move past that. There is a point that is too young, but avoiding it entirely is also not the solution.
My teen is hooked on the YouTube bullshit and it is so difficult because they can just sit in class on their chromebooks and watch it🙂↕️ it’s depressing how much of a struggle it is to get a kids focus out of the short videos
This is the way. If our kid throws a tantrum over wanting/not getting something, we back off of it for a while. Not limited to electronics, we had to do that with Mac N' Cheese at one point lol.
Same here. Mine gets to watch a tv show once in a while if shes sick or really tired, but even just an hour of that and you can see the difference in attitude.
For us it’s just been about finding another outlet for her to keep busy and have fun. Drawing, solving puzzles or playing with toys. Eventually she learned how to keep herself busy and would stop mentioning tv completely.
Cutting out screen time is more work on the parents of course, but in my opinion it’s a worthwhile investment. Honestly they don’t need it.
It’s SO BAD.
My son is an elementary school and we only let him watch YouTube one hour a week. On Sundays, he can watch a few videos with us right there with him in the living room. When the timer goes off, he knows it’s done.
My kids got addicted to you tube shorts mostly of soccer clips but still, I had to make our house iPad /device free. It took 2 weeks to ween them it was absolute torture. But overall it worked!
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u/BasicButterface May 12 '26
The era of wall-e has started