User Guide: How to Setup and Use YouTube Parental Controls

This generation of tweens and teens has grown up with the internet as their primary source of information, entertainment, and social interaction. Every family uses technology, accesses the internet, and establishes digital ground rules in their unique way. This calls for restrictions offered by YouTube parental controls that can limit the amount of access your child has on the digital sphere.

Over the years, social networking websites and applications have put forth a lot of effort to protect families and children on YouTube, including developing a dedicated kids app, securing their data, limiting features, and improving age restrictions.

On the verge of achieving their goals, the YouTube Kids app has been created with parental controls that allow you to tailor your child’s experience. You can choose what content they access, set a timer to limit their screen time, restrict videos or channels, etc. There are resources outside our programme to help you talk openly with your child, so you can work together to make wise online decisions and create good digital habits.

YouTube has always been a platform for people above the age of 13. The company advises parents to co-watch with their children if they watch YouTube. In 2015, the company launched YouTube Kids, a safer place for kids to explore their passions while maintaining parental oversight.

However, it was heard from parents and older children that tweens and adolescents have unique demands that YouTube does not fully address. Children develop an insatiable curiosity and a desire to achieve independence and discover new ways to study, create, and belong as they grow older. Therefore, people must set up parental control for YouTube. Let us look into parental control and how it can protect your child’s identity.

What are Parental Controls?

Parental Controls are a way to limit who has access to your computer. You may control who else in your family has access to your information. You can, for example, block younger family members from seeing sites that you consider unsuitable. The only option in the Control Panel’s Parental Controls section is setting up parental controls for any user.

The Parental Controls box will go up when you select Set up parental controls for any user. You can choose the account you want to apply parental restrictions from this menu. You can regulate when the user uses the computer and what games they can play when you enable Parental Controls for the user and block the use of a specific program.

Is YouTube Dangerous for teens/kids?

Is one of the biggest social networking sites – YouTube, dangerous for teens or not? A simple answer to this question is: Yes. YouTube might be a fun option for teenagers, but it comes with certain risks. There is little to no content supervision. The application encourages users to lose track of time by repeatedly presenting more and more stuff that is only loosely related to the initial content.

Teens and adults may discover that a one-minute video has morphed into a 30-minute marathon of videos, becoming progressively disconnected from the initial material. The risk for teen users is that they will be exposed to indecent videos without asking for access to such content. What may begin innocently can quickly devolve into something inappropriate.

Parents may find films on YouTube that are improper for their children. Specific videos may include violence, graphic language, or sexual material. Even if none of these variables is present, parents may be unhappy with the vloggers their children choose to idolise and follow.

Furthermore, there is concern about the digital footprint that teenagers may leave. It might be difficult to erase the consequences of bad judgement when young people submit their footage to YouTube. As content creators, the pressure to gain viewers, likes, shares, and comments may create a problematic degree of tension and anxiety.

How to Setup YouTube Parental Controls?

The first to set up Youtube Parental Controls is to use a restricted mode on your browser. To do so, you need to follow the instructions on your browsers. Here is how you can enable parental control for YouTube on your computers:

1. Sign in to your YouTube/Google account at YouTube.com.
2. In the left sidebar, click the “Settings” button.
3. Select “Restricted Mode: Off” from the drop-down option at the bottom of the page.
4. Restricted Mode will be locked on this browser if you select “On.”
5. “Save” should be selected.

Repeat the process with different browsers and machines. Remember to log out of your YouTube and Google accounts after you’re done. Otherwise, your bright child might figure out how to reverse all of your hard work and disable Restricted Mode.

Once you update the YouTube setting from your laptop/Pc, you need to update the same permission on your mobile phone or tablet. If you have an iPhone, you need to make sure you follow the following steps:

1. In the top right corner, click the account button.
2. Select “Settings” from the drop-down menu.
3. Filtering in “Restricted Mode” is selected.
4. Turn on “Restricted Mode.”

Android users can follow the following steps to increase the security of their kid’s devices.

1. Log in to your Google or YouTube account.
2. For “Settings,” click the “three-dot” icon.
3. “Settings > General” should be selected.
4. Turn on “Restricted Mode.”

By following these steps, Youtube parental controls will be activated on your child’s device.

Benefits of Using YouTube Kids and YouTube Parental Controls.

Among various benefits offered by the exclusive YouTube kids app, some of the significant benefits provided by this app include:

1. Helps in Creating a YouTube Kids Profile

Signed-in parents can establish a different profile for each child in their household on YouTube Kids. Multiple kids can use the YouTube Kids app because each shape has watching preferences and recommendations.

2. Only You Can Approve What Your Kids Can Watch

Do you want ultimate control over what your children watch on television? Select the “Approved Content Only” mode to limit your children’s access to movies, channels, and collections you’ve personally selected and approved. Kids will not be able to search for videos in this mode.

3. Get Approved Collection from the Trust Partners

Our partners and the YouTube Kids team have created “collections” of videos and channels based on topics like science and music. When using the “Approved Content Only” mode, selecting collections is a simple method to determine which content to make visible to your children.

4. Select the Level of Content Based on the Age of Your Kid

From the vast YouTube video library, our algorithms identify family-friendly content. The “Preschool” Mode curates videos that encourage creativity, playfulness, learning, and exploration for youngsters aged four and younger. The “Younger” Mode allows children aged 5-8 to explore various topics, including songs, cartoons, and crafts.

Finally, our “Older” Mode allows children aged nine and up to search for and explore extra content, such as popular music and gaming videos for children. To protect our youngest users online, we employ a combination of automated filters established by our engineering teams, human inspection, and feedback from parents to maintain the videos on YouTube Kids family-friendly.

5. Limit Screen time and Keep in Touch with What they Watch

Set a time limit for your children to watch and encourage them to go from watching to doing. Moreover, you can also check your children’s watching history to track what they’ve seen and what new interests they’re pursuing.

How to Enable Restricted Mode in YouTube on Browser?

Restricted Mode on YouTube is an optional parental control that “identifies and filters out potentially mature content using signals such as video title, description, metadata, Community Guidelines reviews, and age restrictions.

It’s not flawless, and complicated stuff can still slip through, but it’s a remarkably effective first line of defence. (It’s also free.) If you have a YouTube account, it’s simple to enable, but keep in mind that you’ll need to allow it for each device your children use because the protection is at the browser level.

Here is how you can enable restricted mode in YouTube on your browser:

1. Sign in with your Google account on the YouTube website.
2. In the top-right part of the webpage, click your profile image.
3. Click Restricted Mode, which will be turned off by default, at the bottom of the pop-up menu.
4. To activate Restricted Mode, click the switch next to Activate Restricted Mode in the display pop-up box.

After you’ve enabled Restricted Mode, you can lock it to prevent it from being turned off by others. Go to the bottom of the Restricted Mode pop-up box and select Restricted Lock Mode on this browser. Then log out of your account so that unless someone has your YouTube password, the next person who uses the browser will be unable to move YouTube out of Restricted Mode.

Enable Restricted Mode on Android/iOS

To enable restricted mode on Android, you can follow the following steps:

• Make sure you’re logged in to your account.
• Tap your profile photo in the top right corner.
• Select General from the drop-down menu under Settings.
• Restricted Mode can be turned on or off.

Download YouTube Kids for Optimal Safety of Your Kids

For the optimal safety of your kids, download the YouTube Kids app on your iPhone 13, iPad, or Android device to go beyond Restricted Mode and give your child an even safer YouTube experience. Although it isn’t always flawless, the app is supposed only to show family-friendly information.

A parent with a Google account can modify individual YouTube Kids accounts via the Settings page after downloading the app on their device to limit access to specific videos, only allow pre-approved films, limit screen time, and more.

It’s a brand-new, kid-friendly interface that allows parents to browse channels and films that have been assessed by real people (rather than the flawed algorithm that the restricted model employs) to ensure that they’re suitable for children.

This function is particularly appealing to us because it uses a crowdsourced method of viewership rather than a robot. You may also change the app’s age settings to allow older kids to see information that a younger youngster might not be ready for.

How do YouTube Kids Work?

The YouTube Kids app features both popular children’s videos and a variety of fresh content for kids, all provided in an easy-to-use format. You’ll have to set up the YouTube Kids app for your child before they can use it if you let them download it.

When you use Family Link, you can manage your child’s YouTube Kids experience by choosing to:

• You can choose the appropriate content level for your youngster.
• If you want your youngster to utilise the app’s search feature.

Some YouTube Kids options, such as sound and casting, are only accessible through your child’s YouTube Kids app. The YouTube Kids Parental Guide has further information.

With the Family Link App, Control the Content Level for YouTube Kids.

You can alter your child’s content level setting in the Family Link app on your smartphone when using YouTube Kids with their Google Account. These options can be changed at any time. You can alter your child’s YouTube Kids settings if they use their Google Account to access YouTube Kids:

In the Family Link app on your smartphone or in the YouTube settings of your linked parent account. In the Family Link App, choose a content level.

1. the Family Link app on your phone.
2. Choose your child.
3. Tap Manage settings, More, and YouTube Kids on the “Settings” card.
4. “YouTube Kids” will not appear if your child does not have the app installed on their device.
5. Select the Content level option.
6. Choose from Preschool, Younger, or Older.

By applying these settings, you can protect the digital well-being of your child and save him from falling prey to harmful content in this digital age.

Interesting Read: Enable Parental Control on Snapchat and Protect Your Child

Add Supervision to an Existing Google Account.

Suppose you add supervision to an existing account for a child under 13 (or the relevant period in your country outside the European Union). In that case, all of their YouTube videos, conversations, comments, live chats, posts, playlists, stories, purchased and leased YouTube videos, and subscriptions will be destroyed. Before setting up supervision, Google suggests that youngsters download their data.

Conclusion

YouTube is one of the most amazing social learning platforms of the 21rst century. With its power to break the internet bubble and bring people of different communities and ethnicities to come closer and connect, YouTube is increasing growth in its popularity.

With millions of videos published on its platform, YouTube is one of the best learning platforms for people of all ages. By activating parental control on YouTube, you can easily protect your child from the inherent harms this social networking may bring to children.

Install a kid’s specific version of the app on your child’s device to protect him from falling victim to malicious content. Or just activate YouTube Parental Controls on your child’s device. No doubt, YouTube parental Controls are your key to protecting your child in this digital age.