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YouTube is introducing a new feature that allows parents and carers to link to their teenagers’ accounts for safety and supervision purposes. The feature is rolling out globally this week.
When a teen’s account is linked through the YouTube Family Centre, ‘parent’ accounts can see “insights into their teens’ channel activity on YouTube including the number of uploads, subscriptions, and comments,” according to a September 4 blog post by James Beser, the director of product management for YouTube Youth.
Parents can also get notifications for certain events on the linked accounts, such as when a video is uploaded, or a live stream starts.
It will also be possible for parents to see what channels linked accounts are subscribed to, and to monitor the comments they leave on the platform.
Ellen Selkie, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is quoted in the blog post, acknowledging that YouTube’s “trust but verify” approach is healthy for teens and gives them space to express themselves but maintains the closeness of a trusted adult if needed.
YouTube’s other teen safety features
YouTube has long acknowledged the responsibility it bears to keep teens on the platform safe. The new supervision options are just the latest in multiple updates introduced to promote the healthy use of YouTube by a younger audience.
These are predominantly in the form of optional features that are enabled by default for teen accounts. Take a break reminders will pop up every 60 minutes to remind users to take a break away from YouTube. Bedtime notifications are set by default for 10 pm and will remind users to put their devices away and get some much needed sleep.
A key safety feature for YouTube teen accounts is that autoplay is disabled by default. This ensures teens make an active decision about the next video to watch and won’t end up down negative content rabbit holes by letting autoplay dictate what they watch.
This can also help mitigate the effect of binging short-form videos, which can lead to people feeling more bored, less satisfied, less engaged, and even less meaningful.
