When it comes to discussing YouTube with their children, there are many parents who wonder exactly what YouTube is. If you have never heard of YouTube or visited it before, it is advised that you do before talking to your children about it. Once you visit the YouTube website, you will see that it is a video sharing website. Those who are thirteen years and older are able to register for a free YouTube account. Once an account has been registered, those with accounts can watch YouTube videos, rate them, or discuss them with other YouTube members, as well as share their own videos online.

With YouTube safety, most of the focus should be placed on uploading and sharing videos, but it is also important that you touch on watching videos as well. There are a number of YouTube videos that have adult content. While YouTube tries to ensure that each of these videos is marked, in one way or another, not all are. You will want to remind your child they are they are just, a child. You may even want to put limits on the type of videos that they watch. For instance, it is more that possible to find educational videos on YouTube, like how-to guides. It may be a good idea for your children to view those types of videos, as they will likely receive a little bit of education at the same time.

As previously stated, most of the focus should be placed on uploading videos to YouTube. In the past, a large number of YouTube members posted videos that had clips from their favorite movies, television shows, or music videos. Due to copyright issues, YouTube is trying to cut down on these types of videos, as they are actually illegal with out the proper permission. You may want to explain this to your children, as they may not be familiar with copyrights and how they work. In most cases, should your children post a video on YouTube that they don’t have permission to do, the video will likely be removed, but as more and more companies are fed up with their work being displayed on the internet, more serious action may be taken.

It is also important that you talk to your children about safety, when sharing a video on YouTube or even when making a video with the sole purpose of putting it on the YouTube website. One popular type of video that many young adults, including high school students, are making are video blogs. Video blogs are like traditional blogs, where they outline the happenings in ones life, but they are in video format. The only problem with video blog is that many YouTube members are sitting right in front of the camera, exposing their faces for everyone to see. While this can be considered safe, giving out too much information, while showing your face isn’t. You will want to let your children know that they shouldn’t, under any circumstances, give out their full name, their address, or their phone numbers, even cell phone numbers.
It is also advised that you talk to your children about internet predators. Although YouTube members are able to talk to each other, the dangers of meeting online predators aren’t as high as on traditional social networking sites, like MySpace, but the threat still exists. Let your children know that you do not want him or her talking to other YouTube members, as they never really know who is behind the computer. If you and your children cannot reach an agreement, you may want to think about blocking the YouTube website from your computers.

Display caution when making your YouTube videos? If you are wondering why you need to do so, aside from the obvious safety concerns, you might be wondering why all the worry. What you may not realize is that your online content, including your YouTube videos, may be watched by those who are associated with your school. Those views may come from your friends, other classmates, or even school officials. That is why it is extremely important that you thoroughly examine your YouTube video content and make sure that no harm can come to you later on.

When it comes to YouTube video content that you should avoid, particularly if you are a high school student, the most obvious is illegal activities. You do not want to have video of yourself or your friends drinking underage, doing drugs, or committing another crime, no matter how minor it may seem. As it was previously mentioned, you never really know who will come across your videos. With the way that high schools and gossip works today, if one of your classmates found a video of yours on YouTube it is likely that they wouldn’t keep that video to themselves; they will almost always share it with others that they know.

Another type of video content that you may want to avoid is content that is offensive to other students at your school. This type of content most commonly comes up in video blogs. Many internet users use video blogs to vent their frustrations or talk about their day. If you are a high school student, there is a good chance that you may want to discuss school, your friends, or your classmates. While this is more than possible to do, you will want to refrain from sounding too negative or even threatening. Although you may just be joking, “I’m so mad I could kill her,” could be taken out of context by someone viewing your YouTube video, whether it is a video blog or not.

As it was previously mentioned, one of the many individuals who could end up viewing your YouTube videos are your classmates or even school officials. While we would all like to believe that our classmates are cool, not all of them are. Should one of your classmates find a video on YouTube that they found offensive or poor in taste, they may report it to your school. Speaking of your school, your school officials may even come across your YouTube videos, as many schools are now using the internet, namely social networking sites, to monitor their students and their activities. Having illegal activities documented in your YouTube videos could spell trouble for you, in more ways than one.

When it comes to YouTube videos with illegal activities or threats documented in them, the consequences that you suffer, if any, will all depend on the school district in question. It is not uncommon for school districts to suspend students that they find doing illegal activities, even if those activities were not committed on school properties. Should you participate in extra circular activities, including sports, you have find yourself suspended from all sports teams or other school sponsored organizations, temporarily or even permanently. In serious situations, like where threats against other students have been documented, it is not uncommon for the authorities to be contacted.

As you can see, there are serious consequences to not thinking before making and sharing your videos on YouTube. All high school students, including you, are urged to think about your future, before using YouTube as a source of fun entertainment.