YouTube
What is YouTube?
YouTube is Google’s video platform for uploaded videos, Shorts, live streams, comments, community posts, search, and creator channels. People can watch without paying for most content, while advertisements and optional subscriptions support the service.
Age limit: A person can manage their own Google Account from age 13 in countries not listed by Google. Listed countries set higher minimums from 14 to 16. Younger children can use a parent-managed account, and supervised teen accounts are a separate linked option for teens with their own Google Account. [1] [3]
Family Center for teens provides selected channel activity and notifications, such as counts relating to uploads, live streams, comments, or subscriptions. It does not provide a detailed viewing transcript or message contents, and either linked person can end voluntary supervision. Some regions impose additional channel-supervision requirements. [3] [4]
AdSense account holders must be at least 18. For an under-18 creator, a parent or guardian may hold the approved AdSense account used for payments. [8]
Why do kids like it?
- Almost every interest has a video. Entertainment, music, games, sport, schoolwork, and practical tutorials share one search surface.
- Creators build familiar communities. Regular uploads and live streams can make viewers feel involved over time.
- Shorts provide quick entertainment. Vertical videos offer a fast, continuous viewing format.
- Young people can create as well as watch. Channels support video, comments, live streams, and community interaction where the account is eligible.
What are the real risks?
- Recommendations can narrow or repeat themes. Watch and search history, likes, subscriptions, and feedback influence future suggestions, but they do not determine every video a person will see. [6]
- Comments and live chat can contain unsuitable material. Public discussion may include hostility, sexual language, or spam.
- Public discussion can lead to private contact attempts. A person in comments or live chat may ask a young user to continue the conversation on another service.
- Creator activity can reveal personal information. Videos, backgrounds, live streams, and channel details can expose routines, locations, or relationships.
- Audience metrics can pressure creators. Visible view and subscriber counts may encourage more frequent posting or increasingly attention-seeking content.
Settings to check
- Set up teen supervision where useful or required: Open YouTube → Profile picture → Settings → Family Center, send and accept the invitation, and review the channel activity and wellbeing controls available to that account. [3] [4]
- Turn on Restricted Mode where appropriate: Open Profile picture → Settings → General → Restricted Mode. Treat it as an optional screen for potentially mature content, not a guarantee that all such content is removed. [2]
- Turn off autoplay: Open Profile picture → Settings → Playback → Autoplay next video, and turn it off. The label or location can vary on TV, web, and other device versions. [5]
- Review watch and search history: Open Profile picture → Settings → Manage all history, and review, pause, or delete activity that should not influence future recommendations. [6]
- Tune recommendations: Open a video’s More menu and choose Not interested or Don’t recommend channel; use Show fewer Shorts where the option appears. [6]
- Review My Ad Center: Open My Ad Center, and check whether ads are personalised and which topic or brand preferences are available. These controls change ad personalisation; they do not remove advertising. [7]
How to talk about it
“Which recommendations feel useful, and which ones seem to repeat something you no longer want?”
“What is different about commenting in public compared with talking to someone you already know?”
“If you created a channel, how would views, money, and privacy affect what you shared?”
Last reviewed: September 2026