YouTube Announces New Features To Support Mental Health And Wellbeing Of Teens Using Video Platform

Video streaming platform YouTube has said that it is introducing new partnership and product updates to better meet the unique needs of teens.

These updates are designed to help teens navigate their growing individual interests while putting their safety, privacy, and wellbeing first, the Google-owned company sad. YouTube said it will start imposing restrictions on videos which could be problematic for some teens if viewed in repetition.

For years, we’ve partnered with our Youth and Families Advisory Committee, a team of independent experts in child development, digital learning, children’s media and more - spanning academic, nonprofit, and clinical backgrounds, the company said.

Working with the Advisory Committee, YouTube has identified categories of content that "may be innocuous as a single video but could be problematic for some teens if viewed in repetition."

These categories include content that compares physical features and idealizes some types over others, idealizes specific fitness levels or body weights, or displays social aggression in the form of non-contact fights and intimidation.

“A higher frequency of content that idealizes unhealthy standards or behaviors can emphasize potentially problematic messages—and those messages can impact how some teens see themselves. Guardrails can help teens maintain healthy patterns as they naturally compare themselves to others and size up how they want to show up in the world," Allison Briscoe-Smith, a clinician and researcher and member of the Youth and Families Advisory Committee said.

YouTube is limiting repeated recommendations of videos related to those topics for teens in the United States, with more countries to be added over the next year. 

The company also said that it is updating a few of its existing products to make them even more relevant for teens.

"First, while we’ve had Take a Break and Bedtime reminders since 2018, we’re revamping these features to be more visually prominent and appear more frequently, particularly for viewers under 18 whose accounts have these reminders turned on by default," YouTube said.

These features will appear as a full-screen takeover across Shorts and long-form videos, with a default setting for Take a Break reminders every 60 minutes. We know every family has different viewing preferences, so digital wellbeing tools can be adjusted in their settings.

Additionally, YouTube is expanding crisis resource panels into a new full-page experience that will help viewers pause for a moment and explore help topics when they search on the video streaming platform for certain queries related to suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders.

Viewers will more prominently see resources for third-party crisis hotlines as well as suggested prompts to steer search queries towards topics like “self-compassion” or “grounding exercises.”

To inform this update, YouTube said that it has worked with experts in suicide and self-harm prevention, as well as crisis response, to determine ways to help viewers slow down in moments of acute distress and redirect them towards resources and helpful content categories.

This feature is now launched for viewers of all ages where crisis resource panels are available.