{"id":25370,"date":"2013-06-04T14:50:37","date_gmt":"2013-06-04T21:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.mcafee.com\/?p=25370"},"modified":"2025-08-28T00:11:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T07:11:12","slug":"youtube-basics-for-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/family-safety\/youtube-basics-for-parents\/","title":{"rendered":"Know Where They Go: YouTube Basics for Parents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you can hear your kids hysterically laughing in another room, chances are they\u2014and their friends\u2014are watching videos on YouTube. The numbers are staggering: Over 4 billion YouTube videos are viewed a day, which is about \u201c500 years of YouTube video\u201d each day, according to YouTube.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the big deal? Well, <em>everything<\/em> if you are between the ages of 12-18. Kids are searching for memes (popular viral videos), music, funny crashes, stunts, people, or mishaps, celebrities, and how-to videos. They are also searching for sex and porn, according to YouTube\u2019s top 10 stats. The goal: entertainment <em>and<\/em> to be first (coolest) to discover and share new content.<\/p>\n<p>No parents, you are not imagining things: The digital gap between parents and teens is growing at an alarming rate.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>One way to begin closing that gap is to travel the roads your kids travel online; get in the game so you can talk shop with them and keep them safe. Know the routes, the shortcuts, and the detours.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Here are a few YouTube basics to get you plugged in:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Age limits.<\/strong> To create a YouTube account, users must be at least 13 yrs old.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Block porn.<\/strong> Worried about inappropriate content? Google has a security filter in YouTube that if turned on, will hide objectionable videos from the site.\u00a0However, this option isn\u2019t 100% foolproof that nothing inappropriate will stream into your home. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.internetsafety.com\/index.php\">Safe Eyes<\/a> can do that.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Know what and where to report:<\/strong> If you see a video or comment that is inappropriate or incites bullying, report it to YouTube.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Check viewing habits.<\/strong> There are a couple of ways to check in to see what content your children are viewing. Check your kids\u2019 viewing history (if they haven\u2019t cleared it). To see viewing history, visit your child\u2019s account page (via the Account\u00a0link located at the top-right of every page). Click the History\u00a0link from within the \u201cMy Videos\u201d section.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Address issues immediately.<\/strong> If your kids post questionable items, or comment inappropriately, speak with your kids or teens directly about editing or removing videos, comments, or profile information.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Read through the Safety Center.<\/strong> Check out the YouTube Safety Center for anything and everything related to safety. This is a video environment. There are things to consider in communicating.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Create your own account.<\/strong> Create your account, your channel, customize it, and upload your first video. Then subscribe, comment, and share. YouTube is a social network\u2014the second most popular in the world. You might create a daily word of wisdom, a professional promotion, or maybe a video diary. For information on setting up your account go to the <a href=\"http:\/\/support.google.com\/youtube\/?hl=en\">YouTube Help Center<\/a>. It\u2019s quick and easy.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you can hear your kids hysterically laughing in another room, chances are they\u2014and their friends\u2014are watching videos on YouTube&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":642,"featured_media":76992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3359],"class_list":["post-25370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-safety"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Know Where They Go: YouTube Basics for Parents | McAfee Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you can hear your kids hysterically laughing in another room, chances are they\u2014and their friends\u2014are watching videos on YouTube. The numbers are\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Know Where They Go: YouTube Basics for Parents | McAfee Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you can hear your kids hysterically laughing in another room, chances are they\u2014and their friends\u2014are watching videos on YouTube. 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