YouTube Viewing and Content Quality in Toddlers
Madalynn Woods, Maycee McClure, Alexandria Schaller, Heidi M. Weeks, Bolim Suh, Simran Chaudhry, Aimee Tibbitts, Heather Kirkorian, Rachel Barr, Sarah M. Coyne, Jenny Radesky

TL;DR
Many toddlers watch YouTube, which often has low-quality content, and factors like family income and childcare affect the quality of videos viewed.
Contribution
This study identifies demographic and socioeconomic predictors of YouTube viewing and content quality in toddlers.
Findings
71.5% of toddlers watched YouTube or YouTube Kids, with content often featuring attention-grabbing elements but lacking educational value.
Higher income and lack of childcare were linked to higher-quality YouTube content viewing.
Child executive functioning scores were not associated with the content of YouTube videos viewed.
Abstract
YouTube is the most popular video‐sharing platform for young children and is largely characterized by low content quality. This study examined associations between YouTube viewing in toddlers, family demographics, child executive functioning (EF) and YouTube content quality. Participants include 361 largely white/non‐Hispanic (72%) parents and their 24‐to 26‐month‐olds (50% female) in a community‐based cohort study; data from the baseline wave is used in this analysis. Parents completed surveys and children completed three EF tasks (Snack Delay, Shape Stroop, Reverse Categorization task). Parents reported whether their child watched YouTube or YouTube Kids, and links to the last 10 videos viewed were collected. A total of 1032 videos were coded for 6 different features, and a total quality score was calculated for each video. YouTube viewing was very common: 258 (71.5%) toddlers watched…
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Taxonomy
TopicsChild Development and Digital Technology · Media Influence and Health · Health Literacy and Information Accessibility
