
Toy Channels on YouTube are Ruining Society - markdown
https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/5q5frd/toy_channels_are_ruining_society/dcwttxq/
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astalwick
We removed the youtube app from our iPad, because our 4 year old was starting
to get too deep into these.

There's a lot of great stuff on Youtube for kids (genuinely, whole-heartedly,
terrific stuff; I was amazed), but there's also a lot of very, very weird and
sexualized and violent content. Targeted at young children. And unfortunately,
the 'recommended' sidebar is a little bit too eager in sending kids down those
paths.

I see some comments comparing it to 'video games ruining society' and 'violent
cartoons'. No, it is not at all the same thing. I have no problem handing the
ipad to my son and allowing him to select a show on Netflix. Youtube crossed
my 'wtf creepy' threshold a few too many times.

~~~
Fricken
It's disturbing to see our id reflected back at us in the behavior of our
children, but I remember playing with action figures. There was the run of the
mill blood, guts and violence, but when the girls toys came out all kinds of
freaky stuff went down.

As we get older we compartmentalize, but kids won't hesitate to mix and match
potty humour, violence, and sexuality in their role play. It's surprising
these videos exist, but it's not surprising that they're popular.

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smrtinsert
Has anyone commenting even watched the linked video? The channel being
featured is horrifying for parents. This isn't about ads for toys (we had
those, they were GIJoes or Transformers/Barbies). This is about 'content' that
preys on children for views featuring overtly sexual themes and all sorts of
violence, including rape.

As a parent this frankly scares me.

~~~
woliveirajr
My little girl loves seeing some videos on youtube. Began with playdoh eggs
being opened to show surprises, now moved to little stories about girls taking
care of her dolls. I try to watch together, sometimes I just listen to see
what's being said or what noises are being made.

Sometimes I have to interfere, but nothing scatological or sexual has arised
yet (in those videos).

Ahh, that eternal vigilance you have to make...

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petercooper
How easy it is to start to sound like our parents' generation eventually!
Video games were ruining society once and, before that, discotheques, TVs and
rock music.

I have two young children who enjoy YouTube more than TV and while they do
watch a lot of weird (kids') channels, they've learnt a lot too and I haven't
seen it play out in any negative way _so far_. At the least, they've seen
people with many more opinions and of many more cultures and races than I had
at their age - a good thing, to me.

Let's keep an eye on this and continue to be observant, caring parents who
don't give up responsibilities to an iPad, but at the same time let's not be
the parents who say the Smashing Pumpkins' lyrics are scrambling your brains
when they aren't.

~~~
joenot443
While I agree with the premise, I'd have to say there's quite a bit more
artistic value to Smashing Pumpkins or Marilyn Manson, or whatever other
'satanic' artists our parents hated than these strange, mindless kids YouTube
videos.

~~~
CaptSpify
I would argue that artistic value is _highly_ subjective. People used to argue
that jazz was just random noise and nonsense for a long time.

~~~
thedudemabry
True, and I don't want to jump the overprotective-parent gun here, but what I
think is worth keeping an eye on with these videos is how they are not an
underrepresented group expressing their creativity, but rather a very well
represented group targeting a vulnerable audience. There are no easy lines to
draw, but I think it does bear further scrutiny and discussion (especially
from folks used to defending forms of media from demonization.)

~~~
CaptSpify
I think that's the stance that parents _should_ have. As a non-parent, I
respect that the line between silly-but-harmless and silly-and-harmful can be
very blurry. You are trying to see the world through two different sets of
eyes, and those are going to conflict. It can be a tough call on where to draw
the line because while I _very_ strongly believe in free-speech and freedom
from censorship for adults, I understand that for children it's completely
different. Especially when all children are not the same.

Ultimately I think it's important to know what your children are looking at
and watching, especially when it comes to the internet.

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citrusui
This is interesting -- I never would have suspected seeing the channel linked
above (h3h3productions) on a HN post.

Back to the point, YouTube has always had a problem with algorithms. It's fun
to see new trends on YT from time to time, but not consistently for 3 months.
There's no filtering out video suggestions, if for example you are only
interested in technology.

Likewise, on the YouTube trending tab, it's almost guaranteed you'll see CNN,
BuzzFeed, TBS, VEVO every day. Instead of "Trending", I'd like to see an
"Explore" tab that is personalized based on my _specific interests_, not the
assumed interests gathered from the videos I've watched.

Edit: I now realize that this isn't comment isn't directly related to the
video, but I the link above shows that YouTube hasn't been strict enough on
their policies. The people who make these toy channels aren't contributing to
the YouTube community -- they're just cluttering it with unoriginal videos
that miraculously make it to millions of user feeds.

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_nalply
Youtube is hard on parents. So I wrote a TamperMonkey script to redirect to a
blank page when a video ended.

~~~
paulddraper
Awesome.

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nlawalker
How did these videos evolve to be the way that they are? Is it just titling
with a combination of terms that kids are likely to hit in a search, plus
colors/sounds/expressive faces/weird non-sequiturs that make kids laugh and
watch the video to the end?

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hydrogen18
While interesting, I can't see how there is a difference between this and
cartoons.

~~~
Neliquat
Funny you mention that. Growing up, I remember watching the Transformers
cartoon, and begging for the toys. Years later, I watched a retrospective
program on the series, where they noted that The first episode was just a long
form advert, and was so popular, they ordered a series, of toy commercials.

So nothing is totally new here, except that the average youtuber seems to have
no ethicical qualms about pushing any product, while networks did, and still
do, qualify their advertisers.

~~~
hydrogen18
Now that we're grown up, the transformers "movies" are really commercials for
General Motors products. I seem to recall one movie even having just a dozen
or so frames of the new Corvette before it was publicly available.

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tdkl
Well it's easiest to addict them when they're young and clueless.

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shostack
Out of curiosity, has anyone tried making these? Is it relatively easy to get
views?

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akjainaj
>This video has 661m views 600k likes and 231k dislikes. Its not because kids
disliked it, its because they keep dropping their tablet and grab it before
falling on the dislike button.

[citation needed]

