Children and teenagers today can access a world of possibilities online. Whether it’s exploring important topics around the world or looking up a video to help with algebra homework, they’ve never known a reality without this world at their fingertips. And, as they’ve grown up, so has the internet.
Today, conversations are taking place around dinner tables and at the highest levels of governments about how to help young people to thrive and be safer online. Parents deserve meaningful support as they step up to this challenge.
YouTube Resources and Tools to Keep Young Users Safe
Here’s a refresher on how parents can rely on YouTube resources & tools to keep young users safe:
- YouTube’s policies and services protect the YouTube community and connect people to trusted sources, from combating the promotion of eating disorders and suicide to guarding against dangerous pranks and challenges.
- YouTube Kids and supervised experiences for older children – built in partnership with child development experts – offer different libraries of content for different levels of maturity and give families extensive tools to manage their children’s screen time.
- YouTube offers a range of protections for anyone under 18, from take a break and bedtime reminders to age-restricting content inappropriate for younger viewers.
YouTube’s Youth Principles
YouTube recently announced five core principles that it will adhere to in its continued work to create a safer and more enriching environment for young people:
- Principle #1: The privacy, physical safety, mental health, and wellbeing of children and teenagers require special protections online.
- Principle #2: Parents and caregivers play an important role in setting the rules for their family’s online experiences, particularly for the youngest children.
- Principle #3: All children deserve free access to high-quality and age-appropriate content that meets their individual interests and needs.
- Principle #4: The developmental needs of children differ greatly from those of teenagers and should be reflected in their online experiences.
- Principle #5: With appropriate safeguards, innovative technologies can benefit children and teenagers.
Young people are eager to use technology to improve their lives. We hope these principles contribute to the important conversations taking place among families, policy makers, and experts about building an internet that young people deserve. We’re proud to be a National PTA sponsor to collaborate with parents, schools, and communities in this effort.
James Beser is Director of Product Management at YouTube Kids & Youth
National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product, or service. No endorsement is implied.
