YouTube is adding new parental controls on its application called ‘supervised experiences’ which will allow parents to place certain restrictions on what kind of content their children can view.
As the newer generation is growing up in a digital ecosystem where they can view any sort of content it is natural for parents to raise concerns as to what type of content can be consumed. Despite the previous restrictions on YouTube which were only placed on the basis of the user’s age can now be easily bypassed. Though there is the YouTube Kids app already for parents to opt for, parents believe that their children living in a digital ecosystem have many different needs which according to numerous parents were not being met YouTube Kids at all.
As a result, YouTube has aimed to help parents place more ‘ground rules’ in a digital sense. This has been achieved through the introduction of a ‘supervised experience’ which will allow parents to control what exactly their children can view on the simple YouTube app. However, it isn’t clear what kind of content will be allowed and at which levels though YouTube has made it clear that the ‘Explore’ option on the app will only show vlogs, tutorials, gaming videos, music clips, news, educational content, and more. The more sensitive topics will be restricted for children to view.
Despite all the updates, YouTube has admitted the fact that the application “will make mistakes” but is continuously working to ensure a safe user experience for all ages.
