Worried About YouTube Ruining Your Children?
A quick guide to subscriptions and safety settings that will help you sleep at night
The most popular childrens’ YouTube vlogger in the UK right now isn’t a Minecraft gamer like DanTDM or Stampy or a lifestyle chatter like Zoella.
It’s a bro-vlogger called Logan Paul, who majors in pranks and manchild humor, including blundering around forests known for their popularity as a suicide location, tasering dead rats, and offending people with albinism. So far, not so great.
He’s down pretty low on my list of desirable role models for my two sons, unsurprisingly, but he represents a recent shift in what children are watching on YouTube, according to a recent study conducted by research firm Childwise.
“Children used to mainly follow wholesome, big-sister/brother types who offered chatty advice and company,” said research director Simon Leggett. “However, children’s favorite new vloggers are more edgy, with a style more akin to negative playground behavior where the most popular vloggers are the ones that do the worst possible things they can get away with on YouTube.”
