Who Tube? What Your Kids are Watching on YouTube

Mom check out my favorite video! My 15 year old daughter and I sat at the computer and laughed hysterically together at a wacky karaoke video. I asked about her other favorites and, with a few clicks, we watched an animated clip featuring a giraffe in quicksand, then a music video by a French band that performs covered in glitter. All of this was on YouTube (YouTube.com), one of today’s fastest growing and most popular websites among teens.

YouTube is a video sharing website where anyone can watch, comment on and rate video clips - from karaoke to skateboarding stunts, animal antics, angst-ridden poetry and diary readings, confessions and rants, Candid Camera-style clips and just about anything else that can be filmed. With the tag line, Broadcast Yourself, YouTube allows anyone to upload and share video clips captured with camcorders, webcams, digital cameras, even cell phones. Its part entertainment, part online community, and part creative marketing medium for musicians, comedians, animators, film-makers, dancers, performers, and anyone else seeking to showcase talents or just share a bit of themselves with millions of people worldwide.

YouTube launched in late 2005, was named Time Magazines Best Invention of the Year in 2006, and became so wildly popular that Google bought the company in 2006. Its popularity has inspired lots of clones 1Dawg, GoFish, and LiveDigital to name a few. Major companies like Geico and Kentucky Fried Chicken have scoured YouTube for clips to feature in their TV commercials. YouTubes awards for popular videos in categories such as best comedy, most inspirational, and best series have opened new doors for their creators.

YouTube also has significant political, social and cultural impact. Candidates for the 2008 presidential election are reaching out to YouTube audiences with meet the candidate and virtual town hall videos. Footage of a senatorial candidate making racist remarks that was posted on YouTube was credited with his electoral defeat. After the Virginia Tech shootings, YouTube became a home for video tributes to the victims. Police have leveraged YouTube videos to locate missing persons, track down criminals and prevent tragedies, including a high school shooting plot.

The site is home to literally thousands of inspirational, educational and entertaining videos, including music and art lessons, tutoring sessions, motivational speeches and anti-drug, anti-smoking, and anti-bullying messages.

So why do parents need to pay attention to what their kids are seeing on YouTube?

Because, amid the good stuff, there’s highly objectionable material, including videos containing violence, sex, drug use, weapons, obscenities, suicide attempts, dangerous behavior and other disturbing content. Despite a Terms of Use policy that prohibits posting of content that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening, pornographic, harassing, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, violate any law, or is otherwise inappropriate, there’s plenty of it out there, even though the sites Code of Conduct explains that they review and may remove objectionable videos.

The YouTube site claims it is NOT for people under the age of 13. Access to certain videos is restricted as inappropriate for some users (as flagged by other YouTube users) and requires verification that the viewer is 18 or older. However, the sign up page that requires date of birth has no safeguards to prevent a user from entering a bogus birth date.

Piracy is another issue. Google is being sued for copyright infringement for hosting clips of movies, TV shows, music videos and other copyrighted materials. YouTube has a policy prohibiting users from uploading copyrighted content, and they limit the length of uploaded videos to 10 minutes in an attempt to thwart such copyright infringement. However, users have been able to get around these barriers by simply uploading recorded TV shows and movies in 10 minute segments.

Short of a YouTube ban in your house, what can parents do?

First, talk with your kids about their use of YouTube or other video sharing sites. Find out what they’re watching. Ask them to show you some of their favorite clips and ask whether they’ve uploaded any videos. Encourage your teen to talk with you about anything they find concerning on the site.

Use the sites Safety Tips, Code of Conduct, Copyright Notices, and Terms of Use (links at the bottom of every page) to jumpstart a discussion of your own guidelines, values and expectations about your child’s YouTube activity.

Stress the importance of never revealing personal identity details in their screen name, comments, reviews or videos that they post to these sites.

Sign up for your own YouTube account. Check out Top Rated, Most Discussed and Top Favorites videos and talk with your teen about them. Who knows, through YouTube, you may even discover something you and your teen love in common even if it is wacky karaoke videos.