My 6 year old loves watching videos but I'm paranoid about him accidentally finding weird stuff on there. We have parental controls set up but I don't totally trust the algorithm or whatever. Should I only let him watch through YouTube Kids? Anyone have a system that actually works?
Get the parental controls set up first before he learns how to navigate around them. My kids figured out how to disable stuff at like 7 so now I'm playing catch up. Also consider putting time limits on it so it's not an all day thing.
Your paranoia is totally justified. Besides the controls, sitting with him while he watches sometimes catches things the algorithm misses. Even 10 minutes here and there helps.
YouTube Kids is your friend if you haven't tried it yet - way more locked down than regular YouTube. We use it and the parental controls give me peace of mind.
The paranoia is real. I use parental controls and honestly I just sit with him most of the time anyway. Yeah it eats into my free time but the peace of mind is worth it. You can also turn off the algorithm recommendations which helps.
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YouTube Kids is a lifesaver for this exact reason. It filters out a lot of the weird stuff and you can set it up so he can only watch specific channels you approve. My 6yo uses it and I feel way better knowing what he's accessing.