By Gavin Boyle
A study from The Times revealed that children’s shows on YouTube cut between scenes five to 10 times faster than traditional children’s TV content, impacting their ability to learn anything meaningful.
“Almost all YouTube videos featured faster shots than broadcast shows. Moonbug Entertainment’s COCOMELON cut every 1.2 seconds and LITTLE BABY BUM every 0.9. On the other hand, a 1997 episode of KIPPER cut every seven seconds, while for IN THE NIGHT GARDEN, it was almost every 12 seconds,” The Times revealed.
“But what does this mean for the children watching? Research conducted by professor Sam Wass, one of Britain’s leading experts on early years brain development, has said that there is good evidence that information which comes too fast can trigger the fight or flight response in children,” the outlet explained. “Not only can this trigger the children’s nervous system, making them bratty, but because children process information slower than adults, it makes it harder for them to understand stories.”
Related: YouTube Wants ‘Viewer Addiction,’ Explosive Documents Reveal
“This is why in the BBC’s IN THE NIGHT GARDEN, the camera and background hardly move, it’s only the characters that move in most scenes which guides infants’ attention to the most important elements on the screen. The trouble with YouTube Kids is that for the first time, anyone can grab and monetize children’s attention. With no mandate to make the shows educational,” The Times continued.
To make matters worse, recent court filings revealed that YouTube not only provides creators with a way to reach a young audience, but the platform may have encouraged creators to make their content as addictive as possible.
“Public health experts say the warning signs have been there for years, with growing concern over youth mental health and the addictive design of social media platforms,” ABC 10 reported about the documents. “They argue this ruling doesn’t reveal anything new but instead confirms what researchers, parents, and doctors have been saying.”
This news is extremely concerning for parents as many children spend hours every day on YouTube or consume content that originated on YouTube but has now migrated to other platforms. COCOMELON and MS. RACHEL, for example, both now stream on Netflix.
Furthermore, in recent years, streamers realized that children are the largest audience as they have the most free time to consume content. Thus, they are fighting for the child audience, potentially incentivizing the release of addictive content.
While watching TV is the norm for most children, parents should take into account the shows that their little ones are watching and understand how low quality content can impact their development.
Read Next: The Edutainment Your Kids Watch Could Impact the Rest of Their Lives
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