"Students should be banned from YouTube"
Google is rolling out several changes to their Terms of Service and what you can and cannot do with certain apps. I first noticed this when I logged into my Blogger account and a brief scan of the changes told me that students would not be able to use Blogger anymore.
Then I was forwarded this video which basically says the same thing. All users not labeled over 18 will be blocked from creating channels on YouTube and will be restricted from other services.
This brought up an interesting conversation with my coworker who made the statement, "Students should be banned from YouTube".
The crux of her argument was that kids should not be thinking that being a YouTuber is a job.
So I replied, well, yes it is.
Then she said something like it's not a real job and gave an example of a video being posted about what a person did over the summer.
So I pointed out that her example sounds like an assignment I might have my own students do.
Then she said that you don't need skills to be a YouTuber.
I thought about the skills that are required:
- Creativity
- Video Editing
- Digital Citizenship
- Synthesis
- Writing
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Media Literacy
I could go on, but my point was that I thought she should have a coffee and relax a bit.
I do agree somewhat with Google on this issue. I don't think students need all the access they have had. But, I wonder why Blogger is getting blocked and if that is more of a Google-not-policing-content issue rather than a child protection issue. As for YouTube, I mostly see benefits students having a school YouTube channel or being able to watch a live stream.
I guess I am disappointed they are being so heavy handed. My guess is that there is a lot of pressure from governments on this issue.
What will happen though, is that kids will open their own private accounts and use those instead.
