Youtube and Preschoolers: A Narrative Review of Literature

Abstract

This paper reviews the literature regarding preschoolers and YouTube watching. The narrative review examines studies published between 2010 and 2022. The main purpose of the narrative review is to understand the association between YouTube and preschoolers, four themes have beencanvassed in this review which are: YouTube and preschoolers, YouTube content, parents and teachers’ perception and filtering and selecting YouTube content. Findings from the narrative review unveil the fact that preschoolers spend a lot of time watching YouTube and this is even more prevalent during the outbreak of the global pandemic Covid-19. Literature has indicated that preschoolers are exposed to inappropriate content, parents and teachers are aware of this situation and worry this might affects their children negatively. Undeniably, some YouTube videos bring positive impact to the preschoolers but the videos need to be selected properly to avoid inappropriate content. Literature has consistently revealed that the current filtering systems are insufficient to filter the ill-suited content videos as some negative videos are able to get through the filtering systems and have been viewed by preschoolers. The outcome of this narrative review of literature pertaining to YouTube and preschoolers suggests that filtering and selecting YouTube videos content deserve more research attention. There is a vital need to establish guidelines for parents and teachers to select good quality YouTube videos for preschoolers