As families settle back into school routines, finding ways to best support healthy digital habits at home is top of mind for parents across the UK. This week YouTube brought together leading British parenting creators and influencers for a discussion about youth safety online, healthy screen time and digital wellbeing. The session was co-hosted by YouTube's UK MD Alison Lomax and creator and NSPCC Ambassador Louise Pentland, who sat down with Dr. Garth Graham to discuss digital safety, designing robust protections for young people and how to cultivate healthy online habits. Dr Garth explored: 📽️ YouTube’s default privacy and wellbeing protections: For users under 18, we default any videos they upload to private so that no one else can see them. We turn autoplay off by default, so they’re not seeing an endless string of videos. And we block personalised ad targeting. Our wellbeing protections - like our take a break and bedtime reminders - are automatically on. 📽️ Age-appropriate content: YouTube Kids offers a curated environment for the youngest viewers. Kid Accounts provide a managed middle ground with 3 content tiers to suit different ages, and Teen Accounts deliver near full access with automatic safety guardrails to avoid content rated 18+. 📽️ Tools that empower parents: Flexible controls via YouTube Family Centre, with features like our industry-leading Shorts feed timer (which can be set to 0!) help families set boundaries without friction. 📽️ Nurturing real-world learning: Dr Garth Graham and education creator Katie Estruch highlighted how 95% of UK teens use video to support their schoolwork. Protecting young people online requires collaboration, clear boundaries and ongoing conversation with the parenting community. A huge thank you to everyone who joined, asked candid questions and who continue to champion youth wellbeing. #backtoschool
The 95% figure really stood out to me. Digital wellbeing conversations can sometimes become too focused on reducing screen time, when the more useful question is probably how young people are using that time and whether the right safeguards are in place.
Such a great event!
Such important work Team YouTube!!
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Great to be part of this event and to hear how much detail sits behind YouTube's safety work, like the default privacy for under-18s, a Shorts timer that can be set to zero, bedtime reminders on by default. I'd add one thing from the classroom side: for so many students, YouTube isn't a distraction from revision, it's where their revision happens. Years of putting free A-Level & GCSE Biology content up there has shown me just how many young people rely on it as their main study resource, especially heading into exams. So alongside the safety conversation, I'd love to see more focus on protecting that access too, because if it disappears, we need to think about what replaces it for the students who don't have the access or finance for another option.