New YouTube parental controls, Clubhouse privacy issues and LGBTQ+ teen anxiety during lockdown

YouTube Supervised

Last week saw the announcement of new YouTube supervised accounts, aimed at parents of teens and tweens. The overall goal of the project is to help teens and tweens navigate the platform in a safer way. This supervised experience will come with content settings and limited features to help parents ensure their children are connecting with appropriate content. The system will use a mix of user-input, machine learning and human review to determine which videos are included. Although the service is still in it’s beta form, it is an interesting development for the future of teen and tween online content. 

https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/supervised-experiences-for-families-on-youtube/

Clubhouse

Over the last few months we have seen the Clubhouse app leap from relative obscurity to mainstream success. This is all from an app that is still invite-only. As with all new social media, Clubhouse has seen its fair share of hype, as well as controversy. While the presence of Elon Musk and Deadmau5 have added to the newcomer’s promotion, there are many who have taken issue with Clubhouse due to it’s aggressive growth-hacking tactics meant to draw new users deeper into the platform. Kevin Roose, for the New York Times, has taken an in-depth look at the trials and tribulations of the new audio social networking site. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/25/technology/clubhouse-audio-app-experience.html?searchResultPosition=1

LGBT+ young people feeling lonely

Youth LGBT+ charity, Just Like Us, has found that many LGBT+ young people have found the lockdowns caused from the Coronavirus pandemic particularly difficult. 3000 secondary school pupils, aged between 11 and 18, took part in a study which revealed that almost 70% of LGBT+ students found their mental health worsening over the lockdowns. Comparatively, only half of non-LGBT+ young people said the same. The survey also found that one in four LGBT+ young people say that they have experienced daily tensions in the place they are living (such as arguments with family) compared with 15% of non-LGBT+ people. These issues are even more prevalent among women and BAME community.

https://www.justlikeus.org/single-post/lgbt-young-people-mental-health-coronavirus