YouTube Cofounder Says He May Not Want His Kids Watching Only Shorts, Reels Or TikTok—Warns Of 'Addictive Eyeballs,' Shrinking Attention Spans
YouTube cofounder Steve Chen warned parents against allowing children to consume only short-form content, citing concerns about diminishing attention spans and addictive design elements that could impact cognitive development.
What Happened: “I don’t know if I want my kids to be watching like short-form content as their only way and they can’t be able to watch something that’s more than 15 minutes in length,” Chen said during a Stanford Business School talk published Friday.
The former Chief Technology Officer helped launch YouTube in 2005 before Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) owned Google acquired the platform for $1.65 billion in 2006.
Chen’s comments carry significant weight as YouTube now generates $50 billion in combined advertising and subscription revenue, representing a massive return on Google’s initial investment. The platform competes directly with TikTok and Meta Platforms Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:META) Instagram Reels for user engagement.
“I think TikTok is entertainment, but it’s purely entertainment,” said Chen, who moved to Taiwan in 2019. “Just shorter form content equates to shorter attention spans.”
During the talk, Chen mentioned that some parents are intentionally steering their children toward long-form content while avoiding videos with flashy visuals and “addictive eyeballs,” recognizing how easily such content can get kids hooked.
Why It Matters: A 2022 survey shows that Gen Z users spend over four hours daily on social media, with 71% preferring content under 30 minutes.
Chen suggested implementing age-based daily access restrictions, noting the “delicate balance between what is going to get users’ eyes and what’s going to monetize more versus what is actually useful.”
His warnings come as Amazon.com Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Twitch launched short-form features in 2024 and TikTok faces U.S. regulatory challenges, creating market opportunities for established players like YouTube to capture shifting user engagement patterns.
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