Page 29 - Waterfall City Issue 2 February 2023

YOUTUBE TEEN SAFETY

By Nicoleen Davies, Life Talk Forum
C an you believe it – YouTube and the notion that it is easier to watch content, which they can share, and

is 17 years old! And did you
we all know how “likes” influence their
something than read something. Visual
media is also better able to convey
know that YouTube remains
thinking and actions.
the unrivalled dominant
social media site for teens? A study context, content and emotion. What are the risks?
published in October 2022 revealed YouTube content is audience- First and foremost, the risk is that of
that 95% of teenagers claimed to use conscious, with the creator’s intention exposure to inappropriate content,
YouTube, followed by TikTok at 67%. of connecting and engaging being as confirmed by an investigation
visible. YouTube is also easily conducted by Mozilla into YouTube’s
The YouTube algorithm is a searchable, and it presents novelty and recommendation system. The
recommendation system that endless content to the user. most frequent categories of
determines which videos to suggest inappropriate content on the site
to the user, catering to his or her For the user, viewing is a physically were misinformation, graphic/violent
interests. It uses data generated by user rewarding experience because the content, hate speech and spams or
behaviour on the platform to match surprise element triggers the reward scams.
the right viewer with the right videos centre in the brain. Images and
that they are most likely to enjoy and videos are also more believable than A study found that more than 25%
spend time watching. For this reason, words alone. The social component of the most viewed videos about
teens use YouTube and TikTok as search is reflected in teens being able to COVID-19 contained misinformation
engines to explore their interests, find connect with like-minded people while reaching millions of viewers
information and pass the time. watching the same videos. How so? across the world. Researchers found
The platform is entertaining and, the site’s algorithm to be the problem
However, the danger with any online given that the COVID-19 pandemic as “71% percent of the inappropriate
site is the risk of users being exposed isolated most people for long periods, content reported came from videos
to misinformation, violent and graphic YouTube became a form of escape and recommended by YouTube’s automatic
content, and of course, hate speech. connection. recommendation system”.

Why so popular? Teenagers also love the creativity of They also found that many of the
The popularity of YouTube can be platforms such as YouTube and TikTok; videos fell into what YouTube calls
attributed to children’s love of videos they can watch and make creative “borderline content” – videos that

Waterfall City Issue 2 2023 27