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YouTube Basics

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youtube, online videos

Understanding YouTube

YouTube, the popular social Web site that allows anyone to upload online videos, presents a new set of challenges for parents. Because YouTube can be a lot of fun for both parents and kids alike, the more flagrant videos that also populate the Web site can sometimes be overlooked. This guide takes you through what is out there and how to monitor your child’s YouTube use.

YouTube Basics

YouTube offers great videos and suspect videos, professionally produced videos and user-generated videos. Take a look at the sites below to ensure your child avoids the user-generated muck.

Dulcinea's Insight

  • Video sharing sites have become lucrative, high-traffic online enterprises: Break.com, Dailymotion, Metacafe and Google Video are good examples. For the sake of simplicity, in this guide we refer primarily to YouTube, the industry leader and definitive online video site. However, the advice and information we share is broadly applicable.
  • Videos on YouTube can often be thoughtful, provocative and educational for children.  On the other end of the spectrum, they can be semi-pornographic, and include illegal activities, reckless behavior and foul language. These same standards apply to the user comments that appear below YouTube’s videos.
  • Parental controls on YouTube are very lax and only require that a birth date be entered (which can be easily forged) to watch “adult-oriented” videos. Because this makes it quite difficult to block the bad stuff from your kids, meticulous examination of your child’s Web behavior is required.  Monitoring your child’s YouTube activity is as important as supervising what they watch on cable television.
  • More and more often, YouTube can be accessed from mobile phones. Tuaw.com discusses the iPhone’s new parental features that include YouTube controls, a must-see for any parent who has a child with the popular iPhone.
  • FindingDulcinea has an Internet security guide for children that provides all types of helpful tips.

Dulcinea's Picks

For guides to using YouTube …
Mile High Semper Fi Moms is a blog written by and for mothers who have loved ones affiliated with the United States Marine Corps. In this entry, the author advises parents on some of the more basic issues they should discuss with their children regarding YouTube.
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Teens Today with Vanessa Van Petten provides a basic guide to YouTube for parents that explains how to use the site. You’ll also find examples of the types of videos found on YouTube, along with advice for parents.
go to site »
For alternatives …
Disney offers free full-length online episodes of its programs if your kids crave online video and you want to ensure that the content is trustworthy.
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GodTube is the Christian equivalent of YouTube, and is a safe alternative for those who feel the material hosted on the latter site compromises Christian values.
go to site »
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Posting Online Videos

Many kids today use YouTube videos as a means of artistic and personal expression.  Through video logs or edited movies, this online technology allows kids to be creative while also becoming part of a community. Unfortunately, kids are often unaware of the potential ramifications. Use the sites in this section to get up to speed on what posting videos to sites like YouTube really entails.

Dulcinea's Insight

  • By publicly posting a video on YouTube, you allow anonymous individuals to comment on the video. User comments can be vicious and could do serious damage to a child’s self-worth. And just as on social networks like MySpace and Facebook, the same risks of potential online predators apply.
  • Make sure your children don’t reveal any personal or identifying information in videos that they upload (such as a license plate number, home address or local school sweatshirt). For more personal videos, it’s highly advised that you set your child’s video status to “private,” thereby limiting the viewers of the video to pre-approved individuals.

Dulcinea's Picks

Growing Up Online provides answers to all the questions that parents need to be aware of if their children want to post videos on YouTube.
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Common Sense Media offers ten tips for parents when it comes to their children using YouTube.
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