No doubt, the media world has progressed a lot in recent years. With everyone having some sort of gadget in their hands from kids to old people, and the much available content on the internet related to everything, one needs to make sure that everything that is viewed is according to their age requirements. A close eye has to be kept on the things that kids watch because it doesn’t even come to notice and any graphic related media that might be traumatizing for a child can get in front of their eyes.
For this, YouTube has finally taken an initiative and has announced that the company is planning on to launch a beta test of new features that includes parents having the control over what content their kids get to see through a supervised Google Account. This feature will allow parents to set up and manage their YouTube account so that their kids, teens and tweens don’t get to see stuff they haven’t grown up for. Children who are included in this category cannot upload videos or even pass comment, their will a whole bunch of content filters set up by their parents who will be choosing the type of content they should be introduced to according to their age. These supervised Google accounts are to launch soon in more than 80 countries that of course includes the Unites States as well, parents will be able to view search history and viewing history of their children through these accounts. Parents can also set screen timers for these accounts along with putting those content restrictions.
YouTube already has a platform for kids named as ‘YouTube Kids’ that was launched in 2015. The channel is made separately for kids between the ages of 4-12 and contains media content that is strictly for kids like cartoons, educational videos etc. This though isn’t for teens and tweens who need to be made sure that they do not get exposed to things above their age group. As also said by YouTube’s director of product management for kids and family, that as children grow up they get this uncontrollable curiosity of things and they find new ways of learning, parents need to ensure that the kids learn all of that through a healthy way and through this way they can grow, create and learn from a much better perspective.
The content settings will be in three modes namely ‘Explore’, ‘Explore More’ and ‘Most of YouTube’, each having different levels of content restrictions. ‘Explore’ will be for the kids that now can move from the YouTube Kids category and explore more content that is out there, these will include gaming videos, news, educational content etc. ‘Explore More’ will be for kids above 13 years of age and finally the ‘Most of YouTube’ content category will include most of YouTube’s content minus certain topics that are reserved for the older audience.
YouTube however still recommends using YouTube Kids for kids to make sure that they can have that independency and gain more viewing experience.
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