In this day and age, electronics are everywhere, and most of them are portable. We’re at a time when even our video game consoles can surf the internet with ease. It’s incredible, but it’s also overwhelming and sometimes dangerous, especially in the hands of kids.

One such danger is content farms. For the uninitiated, a content farm is a channel dedicated to mass-producing low-effort content to force engagement numbers. While content farms are terrible, they’re not the main focus of this article.

Instead, I’m here to tackle the concerning amount of children using the internet unrestricted. More and more children are flocking to sites like YouTube and Twitter and being exposed to content that they don’t understand. Kids should not be seeing posts from Andrew Tate or Elon Musk, yet a concerning amount are.

Andrew Tate isn’t the primary offender, however. The main issue is kids’ channels like Billion Surprise Toys, Kids Toon TV, and the many infamous channels that made up Elsagate. These horrific channels plague YouTube still, and children are being drawn to them thanks to a lack of regulation and supervision.

It should be noted that these channels remain because they make YouTube money through their constant abuse of the algorithm. YouTube chooses to turn a blind eye so they can maximize profits, and everyone else suffers the consequences.

Though the blame mostly falls on YouTube and these disgusting channels, parents are also at fault. Parents worldwide are letting their children watch these channels without giving a second thought as to what goes on in the videos. No in-depth checks on the channels are made, and it doesn’t help that these parents don’t keep watch over their children while they watch these videos.

I understand that some parents can’t spend a lot of time with their children due to work or other obligations, but a tablet can’t raise their kids for them. Recently, a term known as Skibidi Toilet Syndrome has become popular due to an influx of kids reenacting the events of the Skibidi Toilet videos. While it is a hoax, it does highlight an important fact about how kids’ minds work.

Children are impressionable, and the content they consume affects their cognitive development. If you have your child constantly watching low-quality videos filled with crass humor and strange visuals, they emulate them and lack maturity. While kids are naturally immature, they become wiser as they grow through experience and thought-provoking content.

Things like Skibidi Toilet and Among Us are not to blame, bad parenting is. A video can’t properly teach kids right from wrong, only a parent can do that. Speaking of Skibidi Toilet, let’s discuss “brain rot” shall we?

First off, brain rot in the colloquial sense is made up. Kids aren’t being turned stupid because of shoddy videos using popular cartoon characters. Everyone has watched low-effort media before, yet we still have doctors and scientists pursuing complex topics. The problem is the lack of actual educational content being given to children and a rising technology addiction.

Amazing Digital Circus and other media like it aren’t educational, they’re entertaining. What people consider brain rot, is possibly addiction to technology due to a lack of parental guidance. Having kids watch mindless videos all day isn’t making them smarter, and it can hinder brain development, just like too much TV.

Parents, if you want your child to avoid brain rot, have them watch videos that teach them about the world in a fun way. Kids have low attention spans, so make sure it’s still entertaining or they’ll mentally check out. The internet is a large and complicated place. We need to stop using kids and “brain rot” as a scapegoat for YouTube and parents’ irresponsibility.