YouTube's Newest Feature Lets Parents Choose the Experience Kids Get

YouTube's newest setting MyFamily will launch in early beta and give parents more control over what their kids can watch.

By Melissa Wickes February 26, 2021

YouTube announced on Wednesday that it will launch a new experience in beta for parents hoping to monitor the content their kids can access on the website. Essentially a step up from YouTube Kids but a step down from the full site, MyFamily will allow children to access YouTube through a parent supervised Google Account, where parents can choose content options for their children. It will launch in early beta for families with kids under the age of consent to test and provide feedback.

The three content settings parents will be able to choose from for their children are Explore, Explore More, and Most of Youtube.

Explore is meant for children who are ready to move on from YouTube kids, but not ready for everything YouTube has to offer. This will include videos generally suitable for ages 9 and older, including vlogs, tutorials, gaming videos, music clips, news, and educational content.

Explore more is the next step, with content generally suitable for viewers ages 13 and older. It will give kids access to even more videos than Explore, and also live streams in the categories offered by Explore.

Most of YouTube will contain almost all of YouTube's content, barring anything age-restricted. It will include sensitive topics that might only be appropriate for older teens, so you might want to access your child's maturity level before allowing this access.

MyFamily was designed for parents who believe their kids are ready to explore YouTube videos, according to YouTube. User input, machine learning, and human review will be utilized to determine which videos should be included.

MyFamily will also allow parents to manage watch and search history from their child's account settings. Other controls offered by Google's Family Link can also be used for monitoring YouTube, like screen timers.

the goal of this new feature is to allow the child's experience to feel "much like regular YouTube" but with more protection for younger audiences, according to YouTube's blog. An example of how this feature will protect children is disabling personalized ads or ads in certain categories.

"YouTube is reinventing themselves. Through expert consultation, new features and policies have been developed to address feedback from researchers and child rights advocates regarding child safety, parental controls, and age appropriate content for tweens," said Thiago Tavares, founder and president of SaferNet Brazil. "Parents also have a key role in developing children's digital skills. YouTube's new education resources will strengthen awareness and help build a safer and better internet for families."

To help parents continue guiding and supporting their kid's experience on YouTube, they've developed a guide in partnership with National PTA, Parent Zone, and Be Internet Awesome called Exploring YouTube Confidently. You can access that guide here.