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YouTube

Where YouTube Kids Falls Short

YouTube Kids really is a separate app with real filtering behind it, and it stops being useful at a pretty predictable point, which is when your kid figures out the regular YouTube app exists.

What it does well

Videos get filtered by a mix of computers and real people, comments are off, and you can set a timer that actually ends the session. For younger kids it's safer than the regular app, so it's worth using.

Where things slip through

Filtering that many videos is never perfect, so weird knockoff videos using characters your kid knows do get through, and they're made for exactly this age. The other gap is simpler: the regular YouTube app is right there on the same device, in a browser, and on the TV.

When they outgrow it

Kids usually leave YouTube Kids because what they want to watch isn't on it, and they don't ask, they just go around it with a browser or somebody else's device. Noticing that moment does more than trying to stop it, because that's when you get to have the conversation about regular YouTube.

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