You ban it. It's mental cancer, to both adults and children. And I'm not even being hyperbolic.

Even the kid-safe stuff is so incredibly viral and empty, it kills all creativity and volition.

I’d agree with deferring any and all social media as long as you can get away with.

On the YT front a small thing that helps is an extension that removes all recommendations. So YouTube opens to a blank screen with only search and after watching a video there’s no now shady this. So it becomes much more functional to their interests.

“How to _____” “Explain how ____ works.”

Helps reduce the addictive parts and keep the “it’s a tool” parts in focus.

Yeah, Youtube for my six year old son is restricted to us looking up stuff for him to watch. Want to know how pencils are made? We'll look up a good video. Recently, that's not often either.

CocoMelon and its ilk on Youtube are abhorrent. It's digital crack tailored to absorb every little bit of attention. Avoid that shit.

There is a lot of good stuff on it too, including a lot of educational stuff.