It's a problem that our parents didn't really have to contend with - easy, unlimited access to a massive library causing massive amounts of screen time.
We used to get complaints about the amount of time spent watching TV (or on a gameboy), but the library available to us was quite limited, so there was a point where you just stopped watching and did other things for a while (assuming we weren't outright kicked out of the house and sent to the park).
The Problem
Now though, not only is content just a click away, but it's actively pushed to us and our kids.
It's not just the distribution mechanisms, social media is deliberately designed to be immersive and even addictive. In ye olden days, we'd get an episode of what we wanted, but then something completely unrelated would come on - nowadays the approach is much more take this, this, this, oh and you might be interested in this. It's very easy to lose track of the time you've spent, even as an adult.
Littlun has, over time, developed something of a Youtube habit.
That's led to some good conversations about not over-trusting content creators, which seem to have been well absorbed (in the sense that the content being watched is more appropriate, even if I do think some of the streamers are complete wazzocks). We've also had conversations about the importance of talking to an adult if something unpleasant/inappropriate comes up.
So, my concern now isn't so much the content as the time spent on Youtube (given the chance).
That's a much harder issue to resolve through conversation alone, as it's easy to be unware of time spent absorbed, and services like Youtube are designed to exploit that.
What this means is that as well as conversations, some technical measures are required, including
- a prompt/reminder about the time spent
- a means to block access
The latter being the "big stick" that I can reserve use of, in order to encourage mini-me to pay a bit more attention to the former.
Blocking Youtube on the LAN is simple (Pihole to the rescue), but it's an incomplete solution. At some point, Littlun'll notice that Youtube works when out and about and realise that the block can be circumvented at home by turning wi-fi off.
This post details the way's I've looked at to help control/restrict Youtube access on Android in a way that doesn't simply disappear with a change in network connection
Read more…
