YouTube has become the world's nanny
As a parent, screen time vs no screen time is a fine line that we have to continually renegotiate.<p>Screens can be great, there is so much good information out there that can enrich our lives. I wouldn&#x27;t go the &quot;no screens ever&quot; route because that&#x27;s just being a luddite,  robbing them of the change to experience, and acquire expertise in, the digital world that they will be interacting with for the rest of their lives.<p>However, I am not letting my kid roam the internet, there be dragons. In particular YouTube&#x27;s recommendation algorithm, even  in their YouTube kids app, seems to default to serving up horrible brain melting crap instead of anything pedagogical. I am against kids content that is designed solely to entrance and keep them sitting still, it&#x27;s the equivalent of digital candy floss. For example, the whole &quot;surprise egg&quot; trend, which basically is a video version of the lootbox &#x2F; Deal Or No Deal, mechanic, is some of the most popular and recommended videos to children on youtube. 
<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;results?sp=mAEB&amp;search_query=surprise+egg">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;results?sp=mAEB&amp;search_query=surpris...</a><p>All three of the frist vids we were served by YouTube kids were surprise egg videos. Hard uninstall.<p>Curating content and setting limits on screen time is your job as a parent in this era. We cannot outsource this responsibility to companies and AIs because there is simply no way an algorithm find the stuff that is just right for your child.