New Guidelines for Watching Teen Videos: What You Need to Know

An old one public service announcement which once aired before the late-night newscasts, asked parents a simple question: “It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your kids are?”

A similar question for safety-minded parents of the 21st century might go something like this: “It’s 10 p.m. Do you know what your kids are watching online?”

Some parents may have long given up on answering that question, even as they realize that online videos can expose teens to inappropriate content, including bullying, self-harm, eating disorders and porn.

Yet there’s no easy way to track or monitor teens’ viewing habits, and they can access videos virtually anywhere – from YouTube Unpleasant TikTok to parent-approved streaming platforms such as Disney+. Even using software to detect certain types of content on their devices doesn’t stop them from watching questionable or banned videos on a friend’s phone.

The American Psychological Association hopes to help people navigate these challenging dynamics with a new set of guidelines for healthy video viewing by teens.

The recommendations provide parents with guidance on warning signs associated with harmful viewing behavior while highlighting key concerns such as content that encourages violent or risky behavior, the negative role that influencers can play and the dangers of AI-generated video.

Dr. Mitch Prinstein, co-author of the guidelines and chief science officer for the APA, emphasizes that the burden of preventing harm to teens should not fall solely on parents’ shoulders. Therefore, the guidelines also recommend policies that both politicians and online video viewing platforms should consider.

In the meantime, here are top strategies for parents who want to help their teen develop healthy video viewing habits but can’t wait for policymakers and platforms to improve content standards:

1. Watch video content with them.

Prinstein thinks it would be ideal if parents, if possible, could watch videos together with their child. This content can and should be broad, including TV and movies watched together as a family, videos from their favorite influencer, their top TV show, and short posts on platforms like TikTok and YouTube.

This may seem overwhelming, but parents don’t have to commit to an extensive weekly or daily viewing habit with their teen. Instead, see what you can with them and ask questions about what aspects of the video they like or don’t like.

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Open-ended conversations about video content can help teens better understand what they’re watching. In addition, it offers parents the opportunity to talk about their own values, preferably without being judgmental or difficult.

Instead, parents should feel free to point out that a beloved movie from their own childhood doesn’t necessarily align with modern ideas about beliefs like gender equality.

Prinstein says that when parents watch offensive video content with their children but don’t talk about problematic scenes or themes, this can signal approval of those ideas to the teen. “It’s good to speak up, say something and say, ‘That may have been funny in the ’80s, but we don’t agree with that today,'” Prinstein says.

2. Get to know your teen’s interests and favorite influencers.

Prinstein recommends regularly asking your teen what he or she is watching online. This is especially important if you hear about a popular series, such as the animated YouTube series Skibidi toiletor a worrying trend, such as “looks great”, which can promote potentially dangerous body care practices.

If your teen is a fan, try asking them questions about what makes it interesting or funny. If they’re unfamiliar with certain video content, parents may still be curious about their teens’ opinions on the topics at hand.

Because influencers can play a big role in teens’ lives, Prinstein urges parents to keep a close eye on who they follow. This can be as simple as writing down the names of the influencers they like, and then searching online for more information about those individuals.

Parents should consider limiting a teen’s access to an influencer’s content if it promotes unhealthy behavior. At the same time, parents can also encourage teens to connect with influencers who advocate positive behaviors and attitudes, such as standing up against bullying and posting body-positive content.

3. Identify firm boundaries.

The guidelines do not recommend limiting video viewing to a certain number of minutes or hours per day. Instead, they suggest looking for signs of distracted behavior, loneliness, and excessive looking that, among other negative effects, can disrupt a teen’s sleep.

Prinstein also says that this interference does not have to be extreme to justify creating new borders. For example, if watching videos keeps a teen from completing tasks, that’s reason enough to consider limiting access to content and devices.

Parents should also consider teens’ exposure to advertisements on video viewing platforms, where they may encounter products that are not suitable or safe for them. Likewise, the rise of content has been generated by artificial intelligence is likely to steer teens toward harmful video content in ways that parents may not understand, especially when they watch it explicit deepfake videos.

Parents can talk to their teens about non-obvious video content that can still be dangerous and set boundaries around how to handle that material, such as banning the use of software that creates deepfakes.

Prinstein says parents dealing with these challenges in their own households should reach out to other parents of teens. Together, they can commiserate and think about ways to create norms in their own communities, while potentially even putting pressure on politicians and tech companies to make important changes.

“We are all in this together,” Prinstein says. “We’re all struggling with this in similar ways, and we shouldn’t feel like we have to do this all alone.”

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Mental health
Social good