Social media: YouTube guidance for parents and carers

Outcomes

This resource provides parents, carers and teenagers with links to a selection of resources and activities relating to different elements of online safety.

Recognising the importance of linking your child’s learning at school and from their friends to their life at home, it is recommended you talk to your son or daughter about the risks associated with being online.

The activities cover a range of issues from:

  • online bullying
  • sexting
  • online relationships
  • pressures of a digital world
  • privacy
  • digital footprint
  • self-esteem
  • consequences to our behaviour and

where support can be accessed should they come across an issue online

Service Description

YouTube is an extremely popular online video sharing platform. It is the second largest search engine behind Google. There is a vast range of content available through the platform, including:

  • tutorials
  • comedy sketches
  • music
  • gaming videos
  • pranks
  • educational videos

Some content could be harmful to viewers. YouTube has an age rating of 13 and over. Viewers under the age of 13 should be encouraged to use YouTube Kids instead of YouTube. There is increased likelihood that content available through this version will be age-appropriate.

The risks of YouTube

Some of the potential risks young people may encounter through YouTube include:

  • bullying and threats of violence
  • abuse in the comments section
  • exposure to strong language
  • false information
  • inappropriate and upsetting content, such as:
    • pornography
    • hate crime
    • suicide
    • self-harm

It is therefore important to discuss the potential dangers with your young person. This will prepare them in case they encounter such situations themselves. Here are some of our tips:

  • initiate age restrictions and parental locks on devices that access the internet. Set up privacy features and make use of YouTube’s ‘restricted mode’. This will limit exposure to inappropriate content and help to minimise the risks for your young person
  • discuss your household rules and expectations for how they should behave online. Such as:
    • being kind to other users
    • not posting abusive comments
  • remind young people about the potential dangers of sharing personal information online, such as:
    • school name
    • location
  • set screentime limits and try to keep technology outside of bedrooms. Watching YouTube in the same room as a trusted adult is recommended. This way you can manage what your child sees, and they can easily access help and support when needed
  • charge devices downstairs. This is safer in terms of minimising fire risk in the home. It also ensures your young person is not distracted by their technology when it is time to sleep
  • talk to your child about fake news. Make sure they understand that not everything that they hear and see online is factual. Some young people lack skills needed to assess the reliability of online sources. They will often adopt opinions and beliefs of their favourite YouTubers. These aren’t always helpful or based on facts from experts. Support young people in developing critical analysis and reasoning skills through:
    • discussion
    • encouraging them to fact-check using reliable sources
  • there are many prank videos on YouTube. Young people can find this funny, and might consider copying. Remind your child not to copy everything they see online. Highlight the importance of safety and gaining consent before filming others and pranking people. Otherwise, it can lead to risky behaviours resulting in injury and, or upset
  • many popular YouTubers will be paid by brands to promote products on their channel. This can lead to fans wanting to buy the products. Explain to young people that this is for the influencer’s financial gain. It does not necessarily mean the product is as good as they may be led to believe
  • some YouTubers post dramatic response videos in hope of gaining views. They can heavily criticise other influencers. This can lead to arguments. This is often referred to as ‘roasting’ other people. It does not tend to model the skills needed for a respectful disagreement. Viewers often learn bad behaviours from the conduct of influencers. Remind your child that things online are often dramatised for views and money. Remind them to be mindful of how they are communicating with other people both online and in person

YouTube parental controls

Utilise parental controls, including enabling ‘restricted mode’ and setting up supervised accounts. This can help to safeguard young YouTube users. For step-by-step instructions (with photos) on how to set up YouTube parental controls, please visit YouTube parental controls - Internet Matters.

This guide explains how to:

  • set up a supervised account
  • update parental controls
  • monitor your child’s YouTube activity to gain insight into what they watch
  • delete a YouTube account
  • turn on restricted mode

Restricted mode can be turned on by the account holder: 

  1. using your child’s account, click on their profile icon
  2. in the menu, click ‘restricted mode’
  3. to turn it on, press the toggle. If it displays as blue, restricted mode is turned on and will filter out mature content that may pose potential harm to your child

Some adult content and inappropriate videos may make it past YouTube’s filtration algorithm. When reported by users, human monitors can then filter them, so they are longer available to younger audiences.

Website

First to a Million

An interactive video following a group of friends completing an online challenge to be the first one to get a million views on their channel. The video focuses on a number of different online issues such as online privacy, respect, digital footprint and the permanence of online content. It also looks at consent in both sexual relationship and friendships, as well as peer pressure.

Available from Thinkuknow (FREE registration required)

#LiveSkills

A package of resources for 8-18 year olds focused on live streaming, looking at the features available as well as the risks to children and young people. For secondary age students, the package contains a live streaming case study and an article focused on identifying and responding safely to online pressures through live streaming services.

Available from Thinkuknow (FREE registration required)

Thinkuknow toolkit

A toolkit containing 15 activities designed for 11-13 year olds and over 14's with a focus on issues related to sex, relationship and the internet, and the negative behaviours they may encounter. It contains printable resources which can be used to deliver sessions enabling discussions and encouraging resilience online, as well as where they can access support

Available from Thinkuknow (FREE registration required)

Digital citizenship: terms and conditions

The Children's Commissioner has produced a simplified version of the terms and conditions that many children and young people agree to without understanding what they mean. In association with TES and Schillings, teaching packs have been produced to enable children and young people to learn more about their rights online when using social media.

Teaching packs can be accessed through the TES website (FREE registration required)
Simplified terms and conditions can be accessed from the Children’s Commissioners website.

Crossing the line

A resource toolkit created by Childnet and designed for students aged 11-14 years old covering topics such as cyberbullying, sexting, peer pressure and self-esteem. The toolkit comes with lesson plans and links to downloadable videos for each topic.  It has been designed to promote discussions with young people around risky behaviours online.

Available from Childnet

Myth vs reality

A resource toolkit created by Childnet and designed for students aged 11-14 years old covering online pornography, healthy relationships online and body image online. It has been designed as an extension resource to the 'Crossing the Line' toolkit with lesson plans and associated films for use with students to discuss the pressures they may feel in a digital world.

Available from Childnet

It's not OK

Lesson plans created by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).  It helps children identifying concerning behaviours and recognise the characteristics of positive relationships. The lessons plans, films and associated activities focus on grooming, sexting, harmful sexual behaviours, child abuse and child exploitation. The lesson plans have been designed to be used with children aged 11 and over.

Available from NPSCC