Kid-only digital spaces versus the open web
The internet was made for a lot of things, but let’s face it—not for kids. It’s true that kids love watching fun videos on streaming platforms like Hulu, Netflix and YouTube Kids. What’s not to love? Whimsical visuals, tons of age-appropriate videos.
Great stuff, but one problem: they were designed for adults first. This means that even with parental controls and other safety features, unwanted elements sneak in: inappropriate videos, ads selling to kids, personal data collecting and other hazards.
The good news is these pitfalls can be avoided. Check out these top three reasons kid-only streaming apps are the safest choices for exploration, education and entertainment.
1. Safety First
Instead of using adult-first streaming platforms as your go-to for entertaining your child, opt for kid-focused apps like PBS Kids, for example. Rated 5 stars on Common Sense Media, it’s packed with free, high-quality videos, including favorites like Clifford the Big Red Dog, Sesame Street, Curious George and more—and most importantly, it’s free from exposure to potentially icky user-generated content.
Several other apps only use content curated by actual people in place of unreliable algorithm-based filtering. For instance, Kindertown is an excellent option for tons of fun, free learning activities, as well as other educational apps like Jam. This fun DIY app gives school-aged kids access to hundreds of fun, inspiring videos as well as their fully moderated kid-friendly community.
2. Ad-Free Space
Free apps are great, right? Sure, unless they serve up manipulative—or worse—adult-themed ads pressuring kids to make purchases while using them. Not only do these ads distract and undermine the educational value of their content, kids can easily, and even inadvertently, buy from any device connected to a bank account.
To give your child the most enriching experience as they explore their interests in the digital space (and protect your bank account), invest in a subscription-based app, which offers unlimited ad-free access for a small monthly, annual or semiannual fee. Kids’ video streaming app Jellies is one such option.
Bonus: like Epic!, it’s content is also curated for safety and quality by people, not bots.
3. No-Spy Zone
Thanks to regulations like The FTC Children’s Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which introduced strict rules on how companies can collect and use data from kids under 13, kids’ apps aren’t allowed to collect your child’s data. Unfortunately, there are ways in which platforms that aren’t geared toward kids can skirt the rules.
For instance, parents and kids sometimes input the wrong age for their user profiles while creating their accounts. This could give your child access to inappropriate content or allow the platforms to collect sensitive information, including but not limited to their location and online behaviors.
The good news is that you can confidently let your kids play unsupervised in secure kids-only environments like Epic!. Like other high-quality COPPA-compliant kids’ services we will never collect sensitive data from your child, and we keep any personal info you provide anonymous and to ourselves.
Not to toot our own horn but (toot, toot!) when it comes to safe content, our library checks all the boxes above and then some. So in addition to the apps mentioned above, you can always enjoy happy & safe “contenting” with Epic!.
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