How To Set Parental Controls On YouTube | Fenced.ai

YouTube has arrived a long way since 2005 and has become one of the most loved video-sharing and exploring platforms. What can you not find on YouTube? From educational tutorials, news, movies, science, and music to every entertaining video can be found here.

According to global media insight, "YouTube is the second most popularly used social media with more than 2.6 billion active users."

And when it comes to children, you know how much they are keen to use smartphones, tablets, and other digital devices. While there is limitless useful content on YouTube for children to watch, who knows what type of video they stumble across, which is why parental controls are critical for your family.

Parents don't want their kids to see explicit, graphic, and offensive videos. Thankfully, they can restrict such videos and even block YouTube and the channel creators.

So, If you are a parent looking for ways to set parental controls on YouTube, you have come to the right place. In this article, I'll guide you on how to set parental controls on YouTube.

Why should you set parental controls on YouTube?

YouTube contains millions of videos, and children today surf YouTube whenever they are bored and get free time. And parents can't be sure that what they've seen on YouTube is appropriate for their age.

Following are the inappropriate and offensive contents YouTube should not show to its viewers, especially children. Setting up YouTube parental controls will prevent you and your children from seeing these age-restricted contents.

• Use and discussion of drugs, alcohol, and other illegal substances.
• Explicit sexual behavior, nudity, and adult content.
• Videos encouraging pranks and dangerous activities and challenges.
• Natural disasters, disturbing news reports, and crime all feature graphic violence.
• Videos suggesting terrorism, war, corruption, and violent political conflicts
• Obscenity and mature language, including racial offenses, swear words, and other adult languages.
• Inflammatory or demeaning content aimed at a specific user or group.

4 Ways To Set Up Parental Controls On YouTube

Here are the 4 ways you can set up parental controls on YouTube to ensure your child's safety and prevent them from watching inappropriate videos.

1.Enable YouTube Restricted Mode

The first thing you can do to set parental controls on YouTube is turn on YouTube Restricted Mode. Restricted Mode filters out all the inappropriate videos containing violence and dangerous activities and is deemed negative for age-inappropriate viewers.

It also prevents your child from seeing videos that have been flagged as inappropriate by the YouTube community or marked "for mature audiences only" by the content's creator. However, YouTube doesn't guarantee that it is 100 percent effective.

If you have a child underneath the age of 13, consider using YouTube Kids in addition to the Parental Control tips listed here. It is specifically designed for young children.

To enable YouTube Restricted Mode, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open YouTube and navigate to the home screen.

Step 2: In the upper-right corner of the screen, click on your profile image or icon.

Step 3: Scroll down the menu and select Restricted Mode: Off.

Step 4: To enable the feature, click the slider next to Activate Restricted Mode.

Step 5: Click Lock Restricted Mode to prevent your child from turning off Restricted Mode.

Like this, you can turn on age restrictions on YouTube to filter out inappropriate content and keep kids safe on YouTube. You can also turn off the age restriction whenever you want.

2. Install Google Chrome Extension to Filter YouTube Content

Google Chrome also includes several browser extensions for filtering content on YouTube. One such extension is Safer YouTube UI for Kids, which hides certain sections of the YouTube website, such as suggestions and related content, to prevent the visibility of questionable content.

To enable parental controls on YouTube using this extension, follow these steps.

Step 1: Go to the Chrome web store and search for the Safer YouTube UI for Kids extension.

Step 2: Click the Add to Chrome button to install the extension in your Chrome web browser.

Step 3: Open YouTube in a new tab in your Google Chrome web browser.

You'll notice that the page has been trimmed to show only the essential features and none of the others that can lead to inappropriate content.

3. Use the YouTube Kids App

The YouTube Kids app is a kid-friendly version of YouTube with content and videos specifically for kids. Here, Parents can view channels and videos that real people have reviewed through a kid-friendly interface.

Step 1: Install the YouTube Kids app.

Step 2: Log in with your id and navigate to the settings for parental control over children.

4. Turn on Google SafeSearch

You can also turn on Google SafeSearch as a method to set parental controls on Google. To turn on Google SafeSearch, follow the given steps.

Step 1: Open Google on your browser or mobile device.

Step 2: Go to Settings.

Step 3: Toggle the "explicit results filter."

Step 4: Check "Turn on SafeSearch" and click "Lock SafeSearch."

That's it; now you can ensure your kids are safely browsing on Google.

How to Keep your Kids Safe on the Internet

Parents can utilize the following tips to ensure their kid's safety on the internet.

i. Educate your kids about internet safety

While the internet is a wonderful and versatile place, many scammers and predators are looking to victimize children, put malware on their devices, and phish their real information to steal their sensitive data and credentials.

The first thing parents can do to keep their kids safe while browsing YouTube and other networking browsers is to let them know how to use it safely and educate them about the hazards of the internet.

ii. Use parental control apps

Parents can track and monitor their children's online activity, limit their screen time and keep them safe on their digital devices by using parental control apps.

One such parental control software is fenced.ai, which effectively helps parents manage their families and protect them from any dangerous or suspicious activities online.

iii. Set online boundaries

Addiction to the internet can be detrimental to children's physical as well as mental health. So keep them grounded by setting appropriate limits and boundaries while surfing the internet.

Parents can set rules not to use devices during family time, during bedtime, not to make purchases without supervision, and remove potentially harmful apps on their children's devices.

iv. Use your device's built-in tools

Parents can also activate parental control that is inbuilt with the system, such as enabling windows 10 parental controls in windows. Whereas for Android users, setting up a Google Family Link provides detailed notifications to parents about their children's location and activities.

Likewise, for mac os users, there is Apple's Family Sharing to monitor screen time, set limits, content filter, and block apps on children's devices.

Conclusion

Parents cannot claim that their children do not view YouTube videos. It's also tough for children to distinguish between good and bad. If you believe YouTube is inappropriate for children, you can prevent them from using the app. There are also various parenting websites that parents can use at their leisure.

That concludes the four methods on how to set parental controls on YouTube. I hope you found this post useful in preventing your loved ones from accessing improper YouTube content.

Frequently asked questions

I. What is the Restricted Mode on YouTube?

Restricted Mode is a YouTube setting that you can enable or disable. This function can help you filter out potentially mature information that you or others using your devices don't want to see.

II. Can you set parental controls on YouTube Kids?

The YouTube Kids app has a set of parental controls that allow you to tailor your child's experience. You can choose what content they have access to, set a timer to limit their screen time, restrict adult content videos or channels, etc.

III. How do I restrict inappropriate content on YouTube?

You may use YouTube's Restricted Mode to filter out "possibly undesirable content," which is essentially the site's parental control. Go to the bottom of the YouTube page and use the drop-down option to turn it on. Access your account settings on your mobile device and enable Restricted Mode Filtering.