YouTube is releasing a new tool worldwide this week, parents or guardians will be able to connect their accounts with their teenagers’ YouTube accounts to monitor what their teenagers are up to on the site. This new supervision tool is designed to encourage safe content-creation practices on the platform by raising parental concerns regarding their children. This feature was recently announced by Google last month and is part of YouTube’s family-friendly resources.
Parents Can Monitor Uploads, Livestreams, and Comments
As reported by The Verge, through the new Family Center, parents are now able to link their accounts with their teens’ profiles, thus, gaining access to their subscriptions, comments, as well as the number of posts that their child has created. This feature also notifies both the teen and parent through an email each time a new video is uploaded or when a live stream is initiated. YouTube regards this as the early version of the supervision tool, and they plan to roll out subsequent updates to give people deeper insights regarding the activities of teenagers on the platform.
YouTube stresses that this new feature is concerning ‘mutual control,’ which implies that the teens and parents can suppress the supervision at their convenience. The change is meant to bring into perspective innovation alongside protection, as well as acknowledging the independence of the teen user.
Expanding on YouTube’s Existing Family Tools
This new addition is an extension of the supervision tools that YouTube has had set for pre-teens before. YouTube also inclines to the opinion that it can become a constructive experience where children can find out what they like and develop a sense of identity, learn from people’s opinions, and feel accepted. However, the company wants to note the fact that not everything that can be found on YouTube is suitable for children’s viewing and that parents should help their children choose what to watch on YouTube.
The new supervision tool is a blend between the fully limited YouTube Kids App and the usual App of YouTube. In conclusion, parents who want their children to watch videos on YouTube but consider that their children are ready to watch more interesting and different materials can use this supervision feature for a child’s proper upbringing and development of digital literacy.
