Parents are finding social media platforms like YouTube to be intimidating places. Kids can take in a lot of information from it that is educational and good for them. If there is no filtering at all, the child will likely come across something inappropriate. That doesn’t even count the time spent staring at a screen. The task of managing everything and knowing what to do is extremely difficult for parents. To prevent children from watching inappropriate content, it is essential to check their app activity and enable parental controls on YouTube.
Different options for enabling parental controls on YouTube
Restricted Mode – Web Browser
Checking web browser history is the best way to find out what your child is browsing. To make YouTube safer for your child, you should enable Restricted Mode as soon as possible, regardless of their age. YouTube search results are filtered using this feature. Video content undergoes a more thorough screening process to remove irrelevant content.
As well as filtering out inappropriate content, Restricted Mode also removes content that the YouTube community has reported. This also applies to content marked as “mature audience only” by the content creators. Keeping in mind that YouTube offers so much content is important. Even though Restricted Mode is there to protect the kids from explicit material, it isn’t always effective.
You can enable YouTube Restricted Mode in your browser by following these steps:
- When you open YouTube, select your profile picture (the right upper corner of the screen).
- Then click on “Restricted Mode: off” at the bottom.
- A pop-up will tell you that this setting could hide mature videos. Choose “Activate Restricted Mode.”
- To prevent your child from rolling back this setting, click “Lock Restricted Mode” on this browser.
Content on your home screen will be filtered as it reloads. There is an important limitation here: this setting will only apply to that specific browser. To enable Restricted Mode on all the devices, each of their browsers must be configured separately.
Restricted Mode – Mobile Devices
YouTube is more likely to be accessed by kids through tablets and smartphones. It is extremely important to activate Restricted Mode on both their mobile devices and your own. There’s no difference between Restricted Mode here and in the web browser. While it aids in mature content, it isn’t a guarantee.
On mobile devices, you can enable Restricted Mode for YouTube by following these steps:
- Access your YouTube account (bottom right corner of the screen) by launching the YouTube app.
- Navigate to the Settings page. Choose “General” from the drop-down menu.
- There is a Restricted Mode at the bottom of the page. To enable the feature, use the slider.
Consider the YouTube Kids App
There is no doubt that YouTube does not have a very sophisticated parental control system. You can choose from the basic Restricted mode, which might be enough for older children and those who do not need to watch their behavior. YouTube Kids can be downloaded from both the Apple Store and Play Store. After that, you can create a child’s profile. Their parents can individually profile children in the household. Consequently, YouTube’s recommendations will be more appropriate for each child.
What are the steps to create a YouTube Kids profile? Signing on as a parent is required to gain access to the profiles. A single account can contain up to eight profiles. To create them, follow these steps:
- Download and sign in to YouTube Kids.
- If you agree, go through the YouTube Kids parental consent information and click “Done.”
- Give your child’s birth date, and you can start setting up a profile for them. Using this, the app will customize an experience that’s age-appropriate for your child.
- You can customize your child’s experience with content.
- The YouTube Kids app’s parent features are explained in this tour. On this page, you can find all the parental control settings and how to block or report videos.
- With the YouTube Kids app, you can now allow your child to use YouTube. In case you need to make changes, you can always go back and do so.
Note: You can allow your child to watch only certain items if you choose the “Approve content yourself” option, containing videos, channels, or collections. It’s sometimes necessary to intervene when there is an overlapping of age and content.
How to Report Inappropriate Videos
There is no way to avoid coming across age-inappropriate videos on YouTube. The fact that you report a video with mature content may not matter much if it slips through Restricted Mode. There were no guarantees. YouTube Kids, however, follows a different set of standards. It is designed to be suitable for children of a variety of ages. In this case, you should report an inappropriate video or channel to YouTube so they can investigate.
To get started, follow these steps:
- Please open the app, then select the video to report from the Watch page.
- Go to the upper right corner and choose “More.”
- Click on “Report.”
- You can choose the reason for reporting the video (Improper audio or visuals, or something else).
Reporting the video will prevent it from appearing on the YouTube Kids app. The video might not get removed if you report it.
Conclusion
It doesn’t matter how much trust you place in your children; internet danger cannot be understated. If they are not protected, their young minds are not prepared for everything that can be thrown at them. In that respect, YouTube can be especially challenging. Kids are sure to enjoy exploring this place. Parents can put their minds at ease with some restrictions. A safer option for younger children may be the YouTube Kids app.
FAQs
Do I have the option of blocking YouTube completely?
You can take a few actions if you are uncomfortable with your child accessing YouTube at all. Make sure you block YouTube on your browser as well as on the app. Screen Time or Digital Wellbeing are the apps you should use for iOS and Android, respectively. With Screen Time, you’ll be able to turn off certain apps as well as block specific websites. Parental Controls on Android are no different. By linking their accounts with yours, you can control the content they can access from their phone’s settings.
My child keeps turning off restricted mode. Is there a way to prevent this?
Almost any parental control can be bypassed by a child nowadays, and the majority can bypass it within seconds. The YouTube Kids app offers a 4-digit PIN, so you can create it if your child uses it. Using Restrictive Mode to block YouTube content is not optimal if your child uses YouTube and your operating system has native parental controls.
