I recently came across some interesting news about Steve Chen, one of the people who helped create YouTube. He mentioned that he actively prevents his own children from watching YouTube Shorts. This got me thinking about the whole short-form video trend and whether there might be some concerns that even the creators have about this type of content. It seems pretty significant when someone who was involved in building the platform has reservations about letting his kids use certain features of it. Has anyone else heard about this or have thoughts on why he might feel this way? I’m curious about what other parents think regarding short videos and screen time for children.
This reminds me of working at a social media startup a few years back. The algorithms maximize engagement time, not user wellbeing. Short videos create constant reward cycles that mess with developing minds. Chen gets the psychology behind these features better than anyone. When I cut my kids’ access to this stuff, their attention spans got way better within weeks. They picked up books again and could actually sit through conversations without fidgeting. The crazy part? These platforms make billions off addiction patterns while the creators keep their own families away from the same systems.
Makes total sense from a developer’s angle. I’ve been in tech for years - the people building these platforms know exactly how they mess with your brain. Short-form content is built to hook you with quick dopamine hits and endless scrolling. Chen probably sees how kids’ brains are way more vulnerable to this stuff. It’s like casino designers who never gamble because they know how the games are rigged. He’s choosing to use tech intentionally instead of letting it use him. Tons of tech execs do this with their own families, which says everything about what they’re actually selling us.
honestly, not surprised at all. my nephew can’t focus on anything for more than 30 sec since he got hooked on tik tok and youtube shorts. these creators know exactly what they’re doing - they’re making this stuff addictive on purpose. good for chen protecting his kids from his own creation.
The timing here really gets me - Chen’s speaking up right when kids are absolutely glued to short-form videos. I see families through work and kids who never had attention problems before are struggling hard now. Those constant cuts every few seconds mess with how their brains process stuff. Chen gets the neurological damage better than most parents since he knows exactly how these algorithms hook people. It’s not screen time that’s the problem - it’s the rapid-fire delivery. Regular longer videos don’t wreck kids the same way.
Wild that he helped build it but won’t let his own kids use it. Makes you wonder what these tech guys aren’t telling parents. My kids always beg for ‘just one more’ video and now I’m realizing there’s actual science behind why they can’t stop.
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