YouTube Reduces Recommendations of Fitness Videos for Teens

Social media isn’t great for a teenager’s brain. The things that pass by our eyes as we scroll may seem innocuous and may seem like they have no effect, but in a teenager’s brain, they could cause lasting damage. 

To combat body image issues developed by teenagers, Europe and the UK are now getting tools already implemented in the United States that will help parents limit the exposure their children have to content about fitness and body image.

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The latest policy implemented by the video giant will reduce the visibility of videos that idealize specific body types and weight categories. YouTube will also limit repeat recommended viewings of such content, so teenagers aren’t inundated with unrealistic body standards that impact their self-esteem. 

If you think this is the nanny state interfering on the rights of a private corporation to do whatever the hell they want, well, all of this stems from findings from within YouTube itself. YouTube has a Youth and Families Advisory Committee, which found that continuous exposure to idealized body images can lead to teenage body and mental health issues.

YouTube’s larger stated goal here is not to eliminate this content from its platform but to ensure that it does not create a negative feedback loop for impressionable teens. Nothing makes you think a negative view you hold is correct than when it’s being constantly reinforced—in this case by an algorithm that doesn’t make a value judgment on the content. It just knows you’ve seen it once, so you might like to see it again.

The change is part of a whole slew of new options on YouTube for European parents aimed at enhanced protections for their children. Parents can now link their accounts with their teenager’s profiles to monitor activity. They can even get notified when their kids upload anything or start live-streaming. Perhaps so they can tune in and spam chat with cringy dad jokes.