How closely are we monitoring YouTube?

I confess that on occasion, I've been sucked into extended sessions of watching videos on YouTube. The first time was about a year ago when someone sent me the video of the group Straight No Chaser singing an a capella parody of the "Twelve Days of Christmas." Next thing I knew, I was pointing and clicking on all sorts of videos of college a capella choirs -- I felt like I had cracked open an obscure but fascinating subculture and it sucked me in like a straw in a milkshake.

Unless you live in a cave, you know that YouTube is one of the most popular web sites for tweens and teens. (Among teens, it's tied with Facebook for second, behind the still dominant MySpace; among tweens it’s the favorite site). It turns out that the time spent watching videos on YouTube is almost certain to expose our kids to some nasty stuff, including "some of the most offensive profanity in the English language." This according to the Parents Television Council, which last week released its first-ever analysis of online content available through YouTube.

It turns out that while YouTube is working to implement standards for content on the site, they still don’t regulate the text of viewer commentaries or the advertisements they carry, including the links contained in advertisements. So tweens who use innocent search terms such as “Miley Cyrus,” “the Jonas Brothers,” “High School Musical” or “Hannah Montana” will find extremely offensive language alongside the videos returned on the search, as well as ads that leave them one click from hard-core porn sites.

I'm not suggesting we ban YouTube from our homes. There's lots on the site that is fun and funny, interesting and informative. (Amy and I watched a YouTube video in which a kid powered a clock with a potato. We tried to do it ourselves, but it didn't work. She entered the project in the science fair anyway.)

On the other hand, PTC's study is yet more evidence that the Internet represents huge challenges for parents who want our kids to enjoy the good stuff while avoiding the truly bad and even dangerous aspects of cyberspace.

Check out the PTC study here. It's worth taking the time to learn what they found and then talk to our kids about the things they see and hear on YouTube. This is what it means to arm our children with the skills of media literacy, so they aren't subjecting themselves to content that insults their dignity and erodes their innocence.