Is YouTube the New Language Master?

Written by: Moitrayee Barman

I visited a clinic a few days ago. When I stepped inside, I heard a child speaking fluent English with an American accent. I turned around to see the child. She was barely 4 years old, sitting comfortably on her mother’s lap, watching and imitating a video on YouTube. I heard her mother speaking with fellow patients in Assamese. I assumed it was YouTube’s influence. While it sounds cute to hear the child, it left me pondering the impact of YouTube on children’s language development.

The age between 1 to 5 years in human life is said to be the formative years since the brain develops up to 50% during this period. Being a key developmental stage, a stimulating and conducive environment helps in the child’s overall cognitive, physical, and social development.

The use of social media is the new norm, even for children. All media are social, but only particular subsets are fundamentally defined as social media because they have the capacity to support user-generated content in the form of images, text, or video and provide a means to connect with one another, like Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, etc. Many studies have been conducted, which have shown a considerable increase in the use of social media among young children, especially on YouTube. Several factors contribute to this, such as the introduction of smartphones, the decreasing number of children in families, and the reduction of available play areas. The Ofcom report of 2019, published by Ofcom (the UK’s communications regulator), states that the use of YouTube by preschool children increased from 37% in 2016 to 51% in 2019.

COVID-19 and the resulting lockdown, which transformed physical classrooms into online platforms, were major contributors to this increase in screen time. From 51% in 2019, watching videos on YouTube increased to 89% among children in 2021.

The Ofcom report of 2023 states that ‘the second most popular activity’ among preschool children while using an electronic device is watching videos on the YouTube app.

While it is quite interesting to note the impact of YouTube on children’s language skills, it is equally interesting to understand how children learn language.

Children begin this process naturally. Most children acquire the fundamentals of language without any formal instruction. By age 5, most children have a vocabulary of 1,000 words.

Language learning is the result of the interaction between a child’s capacity to learn language and their language environment. There are certain critical periods in brain development when skills are acquired.

About three months before birth, babies start to hear, mostly their mother’s voice, as well as other loud sounds and voices. An infant’s brain responds best to a kind of speech called ‘Parentese,’ which is a form of baby talk. It is characterized by limited vocabulary, short sentences, multiple repetitions, and exaggerated intonation.

An important ingredient for language learning is the social context. It requires human interaction. Television, computers, and mobiles are not enough. Activities like storytelling sessions, reading out loud, joint reading sessions with teachers and parents, and role-play not only help children learn language faster but also expand their imagination and knowledge.

Language development among young children depends on positive and nurturing language-based interaction with the adults who care for them, which also involves educators. YouTube also plays a role in enriching the vocabulary of children, as children are good imitators. They imitate songs, words, and slowly learn the language. Since this is a crucial stage for learning a language, watching YouTube in many languages and for longer durations is considered detrimental to learning a new language, as children tend to get confused and may end up learning no proper language at all.

YouTube is used as a babysitter and child-rearing aid by parents. Whether in a restaurant, mall, or on public transport, it is a common sight to see young children engrossed in watching YouTube, oblivious to their surroundings.

Since watching videos on YouTube has become the new normal, understanding the proper use of YouTube by young children will help parents regulate and channelize this habit in a positive way for the overall development of the children.

Almost every young child watches YouTube for varying durations, and their mother’s smartphone is the most popular device for watching. Children enjoy watching their favorite cartoon characters on YouTube. Toddlers watch anything suggested by YouTube based on their previous watches, as they only need to swipe to the next video. Mealtime is the favorite time when parents allow children to watch YouTube, as feeding becomes hurdle-free.

According to the Indian Association of Paediatricians and the American Association of Paediatricians, a child below 2 years should have no screen time, and for children below 6 years, maximum screen time should be less than 1 hour, which also includes watching YouTube. Adhering to this recommendation will help children in their holistic development, which includes physical, social, emotional health, and cognitive thinking.

YouTube follows certain algorithms and suggests the next video based on viewing history. Co-viewing with children by an adult caregiver is necessary to mitigate the risks of watching YouTube, such as exposure to inappropriate content. Co-viewing with parents helps preschool children give meaning to what they are watching, and parents can keep track of the content and time spent watching YouTube videos.

YouTube Kids, launched in 2015, is appropriate for children. Google launched this platform when it realized that a significant portion of its viewers were children. It is an apt platform for children to watch, as the content is child-friendly, and parental controls can be used.

To learn a language, YouTube is a good guide, but it should be used only as a secondary medium. Face-to-face communication should be the primary medium for teaching children language.

YouTube for preschool children can either be a good servant or a bad master. Children learn many new things from watching videos on YouTube, including language skills. However, face-to-face interaction is also important to teach children two-way communication, which is not possible while watching YouTube.

References:

Feldman, H. M. (2019, August). How young children learn language and speech

Imaniah, I., Dewi, N. F., & Zakky, A. (2020, June). YouTube Kids channels in developing young children's communication skills in English: parents' beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours

Lee, H., Chae, S., Bang, K., & Choi, H. (2015, April 15). Relationship between preschool children's smartphone addiction tendency, problem behaviour, and mother rearing efficacy

Siddiqui A. (2019, September 16). A critical look at YouTube videos: Causing Behavioural Change among Children

Moitrayee Barman is the Principal of Bright Beginning School, Guwahati. She can be reached at principal@brightbeginning.in.