Here's a question for parents. Again whilst reading my favourite newspaper The Daily Mail, I read about a website called Youtube.com . What frightened me, is that I am not as clued up a parent as I thought I was about the internet, as I have NEVER heard about this terrible website. I asked my eldest who is age 14 years if he had heard of it, and he had, and he was honest enough to say that he had visited this website to look for bicycle videos. I told him abaout the content, and that the website is used for posting horrendous video clips which are both frighrening and dangerous to view.I told both my eldest and my middle son to NEVER visit this website, or any others with video clips. How can people be allowed to post these things? Do you parents know what your children are looking at?
Do you monitor what your children look at on the internet?
- Thread starter Lolas Angel
- Start date
I forgot to say that I hope this post will give parents the knowledge that this website exists, in order to warn their children.
Google, the number one search engine on the net, just bought YouTube for 1.6 billion dollars!
YouTube is one of the most visited websites on the net where the content (videos) is all contributed by anyone and everyone. Personally I love YouTube. The internet is one of many media (also including radio, TV, the printed word, etc) and can be used for the good and the not-so-good.
YouTube is one of the most visited websites on the net where the content (videos) is all contributed by anyone and everyone. Personally I love YouTube. The internet is one of many media (also including radio, TV, the printed word, etc) and can be used for the good and the not-so-good.
But apart from being one of the most visited websites, and I am shocked to hear that it was bought for such an amount, how can racist, damaging and frightening clips be allowed to be posted. If you have got children, would you allow them to visit a website like this?
One could speak of the internet in general or TV for that matter as containing questionable content. We as parents should continue to monitor what goes into our children's heads, be it from the internet, TV, our children's friends, music, books or even from us ourselves.
I do agree, and you are right. It just frightens me to know that this website, and I am sure there must be many more too, contains such frightening content, which also alerts me to knowing how many evil and dangerous people,there are out there in our world.
exactly. unless you're searching for it you won't come across racist or frightening/dangerous (i'm quite baffled as to what this may be) content on youtube. just as on the internet in general. it's almost as if saying never to visit google because you might come across objectionable content if you search for it. you're more likely to come across racist content in the daily mail without looking for it than you are on youtube.
Neo nazis in front of a swastika flag, footage of American soldiers being bombed with comments posted by fanatics who are anti American, an autopsy of a three year old girl, endless happy slapping, and a man eating a pet ( The NSPCC are looking into this). This is the content that frightens me as a parent.
but how are you to find that? almost certainly only by searching for that particular content.
why would the nspcc be interested in a man eating his pet?or did you mean the autopsy of the girl?
I wouldn't have found it, but from talking to my teenage son, the site is so well known, and obviously as quoted as one of the most visited sites, that children know about it much more than their parents do. It only takes one child to have stumbled upon racist footage, or obviously adults too, and then people who are racist have an ready made audience to target. Re I meant RSPCA, not NSPCC. But how sick is that to post as a video clip? Internet sites should have some type of blockage when nasty clips are posted,just like we have moderators who are checking what we are writing about. For a child to see shocking footage on that site or ANY other site, can be so harmful, and can stay in their heads a long time. The internet is a door to a frightening world, that we as parents have no control over. That I think is the reality!
I don't think your child can find those types of videos unless they search for it. Yes, youtube.com has some bad content, but they actually try to censor porn and such. Searching for something unappropriate on yahoo.com is as easy, if not easier than finding one on youtube.com.
If you're really worried you can always put up a parental control kind of thing that blocks the internet from certain websites.
If you're really worried you can always put up a parental control kind of thing that blocks the internet from certain websites.
Yes we have a parental control, but already just looking at youtube, at most viewed videos, and top videos, there were five or more clips that I wouldnt want my kids to see.
but how are you to find that? almost certainly only by searching for that particular content.
why would the nspcc be interested in a man eating his pet?
Annanas, in answer to your question, if those video clips were amongst the Most Viewed , then they would not need to be searched, and would be on the front page of the above category with ratings too.
i would imagine google taking over youtube would mean more resources could be dedicated to moderating. but you can't shelter people from seeing unpleasant material. unless you go for censorship of all media of course, since you'll still see terrible things on the news. and children do know the difference between right and wrong. and if they don't by the time they know how to use the internet they probably won't learn it anyway. seeing something objectionable isn't always bad for you, you can learn things. maybe not from some idiot eating his hamster or whatever, but other things like racist content can teach you not to become a racist yourself but that there are people like that around and maybe provoke you into thinking about why it's wrong. knowledge is never a bad thing.
i just looked at the most watched videos on youtube and there are some pretty stupid things on there but nothing i wouldn't trust a child of mine to for their own opinion about, especially if s/he were a teenager.
i just looked at the most watched videos on youtube and there are some pretty stupid things on there but nothing i wouldn't trust a child of mine to for their own opinion about, especially if s/he were a teenager.