For a reeeeeally long I was afraid to admit that my children watch YouTube. Sure, it’s damage control in the pediatrician’s office while the nurses prep vaccines and it appeases grocery customers from hearing tantrums…but I mean more than that. Of course, there are many ways to positively utilize YouTube. Hence, this unique dichotomy of feelings have developed. Here they are in a nutshell.
Some reasons I don’t actually mind YouTube:
It teaches us new things. I watch Photoshop/Lightroom photo editing videos as well as exercises to help strengthen my IT band. My son watches LegoStarWars video game clips that show him where the secret passages are, teach him what each of the ‘little green guys’ are called and their role in the story. To each their own.
It can keep us active. I use fitness videos (check out BikiniBodyMommy) when I can’t get to the gym and there are a lot of cute kids yoga videos that both of my boys enjoy mimicking. We love having dance parties to music videos – my four year old has a crush on Katy Perry because of “Fireworks.”
It buys me time. “Elmo’s Song” has over 131,000,000 views. Pretty sure my children account for a good chunk of that. Most of these “la la la”s have been playing on our iPad, laying on the cold kitchen tile while I have try to quickly boil a pot of pasta for dinner or put the dishes away. I try to limit it to when my husband is traveling for work. My own mother made me feel less guilty by saying that I watched a whole lot of TV as a kid. In this particular case, YouTube is not too different from Netflix or anything on DVR… right?
Some things I seriously dislike about YouTube:
It’s hard to monitor. With the suggested videos to the side, children (of any age!) can stumble down an unpredictable path and end up watching videos I’ve never seen or wouldn’t want them to see. (My two year old can get from Elmo to unwrapping KinderBueno eggs in four seconds flat.) The audio is even more unmonitored and little ears can hear some inappropriate words. They might even repeat some of these words…
Postural affect. (image at right) No one is 100% of the long-term effects phones, iPads, etc. and the hours spent texting, surfing, emailing, blogging (!) has on one’s posture. But it can’t be good. I try to remind my kids (and myself!) to sit up straight every so often. Maybe Santa will bring us all posture alarms.
Watching play instead of actual play. This is probably the hardest for me to come to terms with. I understand the need and desire to mimic play that a child sees but I feel like sometimes this takes the place of playing. At least having some Legos out on the table may make the play more parallel…?
Some things that still completely baffle me about YouTube:
People making money. How do people honestly make BANK (I’m talking a seven figure salary here!) for playing with PlayDoh, Barbies, Legos, or HotWheels on video? (See this TodayShow clip). DisneyCollectorBR (the most lucrative user) makes over $4,000,000 a year from their posted videos. More importantly, how can I get in on this?
Comment threads. Do people really have nothing better to do with their time than comment on videos and respond to other’s comments? I mean really. Maybe I’m missing out on this phenomenon too…
Having put this all out there, I think it’s time we take a break from YouTube until further notice… Or until an emergency… Or until the kids are in bed and I want to learn something new…
What are your favorite things about YouTube?
Do you have rules/restrictions for ‘YouTubage’?
