Technology has opened up the door for children to consume more online media. “Youtube” is a popular outlet for these young individuals to browse the internet. Most videos or channels that these kids invest hours into aren’t monitored by parents. Many careless parents will allow their children to browse the site with their phones but they don’t realize how dangerous this can be.

If a young child attempted to view inappropriate content on “Youtube”, a page would appear,  blocking the video. A content warning label helps the user understand that the video is potentially mature and explicit. This feature is useful but outdated. Very easily, children can bypass these restrictions and watch unfitted videos for their age.

In order for a child to bypass the label, they would need a registered email address that verifies an adult age. When an adult hands down a phone with a registered email address, the child could easily view mature content.

Quickly parents wanted more online safety and regulations for these accounts. Entertainment business added a ‘kids’ feature. This category has become popular for the concerned adult. “Youtube” created “Youtube Kids”, an app that has been programmed and filtered for younger audiences, but the app has flaws.

The “Youtube Kids” site has the age restriction at hand. When users start the app a set of instructions help adults set up an account with parental restrictions. The recommended videos on the homepage are very much kid friendly. However since “Youtube” gets most of its content from online users, many of the videos are advertisement heavy or outright disturbing. At such a young age kids are being exposed to more ads. The ‘toy review’ video can easily attract children to consume the product.  Even with the addition of “Youtube Kids” some disgusting and inappropriate content has made its way to these viewers.

Still most children view “Youtube” content from their parent’s phone. It’s important for an adult to be aware what their child watches on a vast platform like “Youtube.”