YouTube is launching a new supervised experience aimed at teens, allowing parents and teens to link their accounts for shared insights and notifications. This initiative aims to keep parents informed about their teens' YouTube activity, including uploads, subscriptions, and comments, and to provide guidance on responsible content creation. The Family Center hub will facilitate this by offering shared insights and proactive email notifications for key events like video uploads or livestreams.
This new feature builds on YouTube's existing supervised experiences for pre-teens and is part of their broader effort to create safe and educational environments for young users. YouTube Kids and supervised experiences for pre-teens already reach over 100 million active users monthly. The development of these products is guided by experts in child development, digital learning, and children’s media, ensuring they respect teens' autonomy while providing mutual control and resources for both parents and teens.
Ellen Selkie, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, emphasizes the importance of teens having space to make their own choices while also having access to trusted adults. She supports YouTube’s approach of shared decision-making and open communication between teens and parents.
YouTube has also invested in various features to protect younger users, including combating harmful content and introducing new privacy and wellbeing protections. The new supervised experience for teens is a continuation of these efforts, aiming to foster responsible digital citizenship and thoughtful parental engagement.
