Originally Posted by
Dunlap
I think the YouTube Kids thing is the most clear example for people to see that this model of curation is deficient. With so much good educational content out there, it makes no sense to me why any parent would see their kids open kinder eggs and think that's good. So, Cowutopia, and other parents here: why do you let your kids on YouTube Kids instead of a curated platform, like Netflix or Disney? Even the straight entertainment on those platforms set ups coherent stories.
My son (who is 2) mostly watches curated content and I try to watch and engage with him about what’s happening in the show as much as possible. Thankfully all Australian children’s content is essentially curated by our version of the PBS. So we have an advertisement free channel that has Peppa Pig, Wiggles, Sesame Street, Octonauts, etc etc. With free streaming apps of all this content. The only big quality kid content that it doesn’t have is Paw Patrol, Lion Guard etc.
But my parents in law did show him Wiggles on YouTube, on the iPad, and if you keep watching this it will eventually devolve into videos where someone is systematically opening eggs and playing with the squishy toys in a repetitive way. Kids’ absolutely love this shit and soon he was screaming for “pad egg”.
There in lies the problem, this content is the product of big data, humans emulating that data, machines emulating the humans emulating etc , it’s so incredibly distilled and focused into what kids want to watch. If I sat him in front of YouTube and let it go he would stay there zombified for ages, who knows what he would watch; if he watches a curated channel he will get bored at slow bits and go off and make cars with duplo. All of the curated channels have storylines, story ebs, language, some educational content; even the worst shows have problems, issues or conflicts which characters need to be overcome. This user generated content has NOTHING, it’s repetitive, has almost no language and is SYSTEMICALLY made to be addictive and keep the child there for as long as possible.
Quick zephyrs blow, vexing daft Jim.
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