We’re Getting the next generation Hooked

On the Youtube and Netflix apps for kids and what I dream existed instead for them

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

I write this as a parent to a 3 year old son who uses Netflix almost everyday (and tried briefly the Youtube Kids app). I write this because both are plagued with dark design patterns.

What are dark patterns? In case you don’t know, they’re a design (intentional or not) that leads the person using it to something detrimental to him/herself (and usually beneficial to the product).

Note before I dive in: I believe no one at Google or Netflix has done this with the intention to cause harm.

Optimizing for engagement (and ignoring the consequences)

Netflix (Kids section)

The lesson this teaches is “let’s start watching something (anything) and spend your time doing the easiest thing possible”. This habit of mindless consumption is dangerous, and everyday use will only enforce that.

Adults (and teenagers) are already victims to how addictive and damaging technology can be when left unchecked. We have less free time, which is key to our wellbeing. We check our phones more than 150 times per day (more from Tristan Harris on The Need for a New Design Ethics). There’s even a name for the phobia of being out of cellular phone contact: nomophobia.

Let’s not set up the next generation to grow up hooked to technology, specially when they’re too young to realize it.

The specifics: what can be improved?

Infinite content

Hint: you’ll never see “There is nothing worth your time right now”.

Watch this next

You don’t need to worry about what you’re watching or how long you’re watching it, just keep at it, this is fun!

We’re putting candy in front of kids and expecting them not to eat it all…

Algorithms are raising our kids (or at least choosing their content)

With all this, I ask…What about helping kids learn, develop new skills, become better people?

You could say this is not the role of these kind of apps, but I disagree. Say a kid loves airplanes. Learning to build your own, or even design one from scratch…I think a lot of kids would love that. Or say a girl loves a show that takes place in the jungle. A documentary about said jungle might be interesting.

These apps could be helping your children explore what they like and are passionate about, and even kickstart hobbies, side projects, or who knows, maybe even what they could end up working on.

How might a platform that incorporates entertainment with learning, courses, activities, or a community even look like? How could it work? I’ll explore that in part 2 😃.

Arturo Goicochea

What I’m learning (side projects), thinking (posts) and reading (books)

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Thanks to Callie Neylan

Arturo Goicochea (💻&📸)

Written by

Designer, Photographer, explorer, coffee lover. https://arturogoicochea.com

Arturo Goicochea

What I’m learning (side projects), thinking (posts) and reading (books)

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