The use of YouTube brings many positives to children, including the following.
Youtube pros for kids
Develop children’s language skills
The easiest way to help young children develop their language skills is to let them watch educational videos. Videos that teach the alphabet, numbers and shapes can help children remember easily instead of just enumerating them with pen and paper.
Keep children focused for more time.
The visual impact of videos is effective in teaching, and videos with songs can help young children develop their vocabulary and spelling.
Possibility to learn another language
Children learn to understand words at an early age, so parents are encouraged to allow their children to listen to native speakers as early as possible, and YouTube is a great way for kids to learn about native speakers for free, as exposure to the language on a daily basis is key to learning any new language YouTube has a huge amount of content, so it will be easy to find something that catches the child’s interest and keeps them focused, and it is important for parents to choose materials that are appropriate for the age of their children; YouTube has very broad and inclusive content for all age groups.
knowledge development
YouTube is one of the sources of knowledge for children. Parents often wonder how their child knows a certain information or has knowledge in a particular field. When children watch YouTube videos, they can hear great ideas and useful tips that they can apply.
Provide an academic resource
Kids can use YouTube as an academic resource, where they can search for different videos of the educational subjects they are studying such as math, science and other subjects, as YouTube provides thousands of detailed lessons on the different topics covered in school from primary to high school.
Children can enhance their academic understanding by watching educational videos in various subjects. It is worth noting that these videos are free, can be viewed at any time, and can be re-watched many times, and this is what makes them distinct from other academic resources.
Youtube Cons for Kids
The use of YouTube has some negatives that may affect children, and these negatives include the following:
Impairment of learning social skills
Over-exposure to YouTube videos reduces children’s chance of playing with and getting to know other children, so they won’t have playmates, and they won’t develop their social skills.
Possibility to view inappropriate content
YouTube may contain content that is inappropriate for children, and even with policies to remove videos that can cause harm according to YouTube’s own standards, YouTube’s standards may differ from a person’s standards, and what YouTube considers appropriate content may be considered inappropriate by some parents.
Possibility of obtaining misleading information
Some videos on YouTube can display misinformation, and although misleading information violates YouTube policies, this information may be provided indirectly, and adults may be able to distinguish this information, but children do not have the ability to distinguish it.
