Page 38 - Silver Lakes February Issue 2023

TODAY’S CHILD

YouTube TEEN SAFETY

By Nicoleen Davies, Life Talk Forum

an you believe it – YouTube is 17 brain. Images and videos are also more A study found that more than 25% of
years old! And did you know that believable than words alone. The social the most viewed videos about Covid-19
CYouTube remains the unrivalled component is reflected in teens being contained misinformation while reaching
dominant social media site for teens? A able to connect with like-minded people millions of viewers across the world.
study published in October 2022 revealed watching the same videos. How so? The Researchers found the site’s algorithm to
that 95% of teenagers claimed to use platform is entertaining and, given that the be the problem as “71% percent of the
YouTube, followed by TikTok at 67%. Covid-19 pandemic isolated most people inappropriate content reported came
for long periods, YouTube became a form from videos recommended by YouTube’s
The YouTube algorithm is a recommendation of escape and connection. automatic recommendation system”.
system that determines which videos to
suggest to the user, catering to his or her Teenagers also love the creativity of They also found that many of the videos
interests. It uses data generated by user platforms such as YouTube and TikTok; they fell into what YouTube calls “borderline
behaviour on the platform to match the can watch and make creative content which content” – videos that “skirt the borders
right viewer with the right videos that they can share, and we all know how “likes” of their Community Guidelines without
they are most likely to enjoy and spend influence their thinking and actions. actually violating them”. For example,
time watching. For this reason, teens use the report pointed to the animated video
YouTube and TikTok as search engines to What are the risks? Woody’s Got Wood, which was actually “a
explore their interests, find information First and foremost, the risk is that of sexualised parody of the children’s film, Toy
and pass the time. exposure to inappropriate content, as Story”.
confirmed by an investigation conducted
However, the danger with any online by Mozilla into YouTube’s recommendation An interesting point raised was that
site is the risk of users being exposed system. The most frequent categories of because YouTube’s algorithm recommends
to misinformation, violent and graphic inappropriate content on the site were content based on what it determines users
content, and of course, hate speech. misinformation, graphic/violent content, are interested in, it often suggests videos
hate speech and spams or scams. that reinforce existing ideas or beliefs.
Why so popular?
The popularity of YouTube can be attributed
to children’s love of videos and the notion
that it is easier to watch something than
read something. Visual media is also
better able to convey context, content and
emotion.

YouTube content is audience-conscious,
with the creator’s intention of connecting
and engaging being visible. YouTube is also
easily searchable, and it presents novelty
and endless content to the user.

For the user, viewing is a physically
rewarding experience because the surprise
element triggers the reward centre in the

36 | INTRAMUROS FEBRUARY 2023