Online content holds the power to educate, entertain, and connect young people. In order to make the most of its potential, video streaming platform YouTube, along with industry leaders, has introduced the Youth Digital Wellbeing initiative. The initiative brings together market leaders from around the world to support a unified vision of the development of high-quality, age-appropriate content that can positively impact the lives of young people. “We are committed to positively shaping the online content experiences of young users, not only by promoting healthy and enriching content for youth but also by actively limiting the reach of low-quality content. This work includes enabling greater access to content that promotes media literacy and digital citizenship, fosters learning in and outside of the classroom, and supports development and wellbeing,” said the platform in its blog post. “The wellbeing of young people on our platform is a top priority at YouTube, and the Youth Digital Wellbeing Initiative builds upon our longstanding efforts. This includes YouTube Kids and supervised experiences. We also continue to collaborate with third-party experts, including our recent work with the American Psychological Association to create a parents’ guide to navigating quality time spent online,” said Neal Mohan, YouTube CEO. The platform went on to list its vision to raise industry standards through responsible product design and content creation that has been tailored to local needs. Safeguarding against online harm The platform aims to empower youth with age-appropriate choices and protect them against online harms. The product design and content development will be aimed at protecting the diverse youth population, and they will align with the unique developmental needs of kids and teens. The vision includes setting age-appropriate defaults wherever applicable for sexually explicit content and graphic violence in line with the existing standards. Besides, the platform will invest in research-backed resources for families and parents, inclusive of media literacy and digital citizenship. The platform will support the development and accessibility of high-quality, age-appropriate content that is engaging and inspiring. Increasing screen time is one of the major concerns worldwide, and to address this, the initiative aims to enable settings and offer controls that support healthy screen time for youth. Besides, it will also point youth toward crisis resources when viewing content that may include the discussion of sensitive mental health topics such as suicide and self-harm. The collective also will work towards implementing content safeguards for youth by limiting their exposure to low-quality, potentially harmful content.
