How to Turn On the YouTube Safety Feature {and why web accountability is important}
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Has your child accidentally viewed porn?
Maybe it was just a pop-up that was soft-porn, or perhaps they clicked on a link that should have been harmless but took them to site filled with explicit pictures and videos.
All it takes is a split-second of curiosity – and children are very curious – to cause a lot of damage.
As moms we all know we need to have filters, but sometimes the filters don’t do their work.
Layering filters – both technological and parental – is the best method of all to protect our children, our spouses and ourselves from a dangerous trap.
It was not long ago that I discovered this amazing feature on YouTube.
It is a safety feature.
It prevents you from viewing comments on videos (which are often filled with the worst kind of profanity, bullying, and trolling) and it also completely blocks you from viewing content with potentially explicit material.
It works.
I know because I have my safety turned on.
How to Turn On the YouTube Safety Feature
1. Open YouTube and scroll all the way down to the very bottom (past all those recommended videos on the home screen)
You’re looking for “Safety” – where the arrow is. Click on that and choose on…..then you’ll need to scroll down more. (If you just choose on and don’t scroll down, you wont have turned it on – because the save is now below that footer where you see “About”, “Press” and so on).
When you scroll down you’ll see this. Now, click on the “on” button. See? this is very important!
Then click save.
You’re done!
May I take a moment to share something more?
Please….as parents, do your children a huge favor and make it a family policy that screens remain in high-traffic places in your home.
I know, your kids want to sit in their rooms and play Minecraft, but it is when they are alone that the enemy would like to take advantage of that moment.
It is much easier for them to shut the image and walk away when they know that someone could walk by at any moment and see what’s on the screen. But when they are alone, curiosity can get the better of them.
In our home, the screens stay in the living room. There is strong accountability.
You can have all the filters and have all “those talks”, but they are only as powerful as the level of accountability that goes with them.
Please….do not trust your children in this!
They are too young to bear that much responsibility. That is why they are still under your care – because they are children and should not be trusted with such grave matters as s*xual purity. Not yet.
I know this policy will probably make you look like the bad guy. But it is better to be a bad guy now than to walk the painful road with your child while he tries to break free from a porn addiction.
The sad part is a staggeringly high percentage of teens are addicted to porn.
All it takes is them hearing a word at school that they don’t understand, Googling it, hitting “images”, and they have a screen full of options to choose from.
This is the sad reality of today’s technology and society.
But not only that, the Internet is filled with predators who are waiting for a young, vulnerable person of whom to take advantage. Young people haven’t lived long enough to be cynical. They are often far too trusting, even when we warn them not to be. They give out too much information and curiosity leads to a meeting with a stranger…
…and the rest is history.
Furthermore, statistics show that more and more teens are sexting, posting lewd photographs of themselves online, or receiving them from friends.
You may think, “Not my kid”. But – again – are you really that willing to trust your child that much? Or wouldn’t you rather not leave any room for doubt and just make the policy that all screen – including cell phones of every kind – remain in high-traffic areas in the home? Even at night.
Especially at night.
By them an old-school alarm clock and make them leave the cell phone on the table before they go to bed.
Dear parents, we must layer our filters. Invest in a web filter, turn on the safety features, have the talks with your kids, regularly check the history on all devices, and then amp it up to the next level by making it a policy to keep screens in the living areas of the home where accountability will be the highest.
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THANK YOU SO MUCH! This is the most valuable post I’ve read in a long time. I went to YouTube and turned on my filter even before I finished the post. I have been shocked by things I’ve seen on YouTube. I’ve worried about my kids and my husband.
I have insisted that our computer stay in the dining room, right in the middle of the house, even though there isn’t enough room for the desk there. It’s the most visible location in the house. Everyone is safer.
May God bless you richly for this.
Laura
I’ve shared it on Google +, Twitter, and Facebook. Thanks again, Laura
Thank you for sharing Laura! I am so glad you found this helpful and happy to hear that you keep devices where there is accountability. It is sometimes very frightening when you realize the kind of information one can access with only a few keystrokes. We need to do all we can to protect ourselves and our families in this!
Amen, AMen and Amen I cannot agree more!
Yes, that YouTube safety is so important. So are your other suggestions. I will be pinning and sharing on G+.
If you want to know more about these problems teens face, I posted a review of an excellent book yesterday: More than Just The Talk by Jonathan McKee. I highly recommend it.
http://anniekateshomeschoolreviews.com/2015/04/review-more-than-just-the-talk-by-jonathan-mckee/
Thank you so much for sharing the post. And thank you for the book recommendation. I will check that out!
Thanks for a great post! I didn’t know this safety feature existed. Not only do I want to protect the young people in my house from yucky stuff – but *I* don’t want to see it, either! So glad to know this feature exists! : )
Yes – I agree. I also do not want to see the disgusting stuff that is sometimes shared on YouTube – from the abhorrent language in the comments, to the filth that is sometimes in the videos. It’s a great feature!
After I turned this on, I discovered that it ALSO apparently filters out *Christian* Content! I tried to watch the trailer for the new movie “Polycarp” – a movie about a Christian Saint – and youtube said that it was protecting me from it. So, I’m not sure that their filter is very reliably able to sort the good from the bad. It’s too bad – because it’s a GREAT idea.
My (computer professional) husband says remember that the safety feature is off by default. So you will need to turn the safety feature on, everytime you go on You Tube, unless you sign in and change the default to on.
This is great wisdom for parents, Rosalind. My 11-year-old daughter has the Kindle app on her iPod, and sometimes reads in her room at night. Your message here makes the second time this week I’ve been warned by an article to keep screens in a central location, and I’m heeding it! Thanks for linking up with us at Grace & Truth!
Oh – I’m so glad you stopped by. I pray so hard that this message will touch many hearts because sometimes we don’t even realize the severity of the danger out there. I didn’t – until we innocently did a YouTube search and it pulled up porn. Suddenly many things became clear for me and I realized how much my children were in danger.
Thanks for this tip, Rosalind. I had no idea about that you tube button.
This was wonderful. The safety is on at my house now. Thanks so much.
Volim te,hvala!
I ja tebe, draga!!! Pusa!