There is definitely no denying it: there just aren’t enough apps out there that are intended to be just for kids. Especially on YouTube, even equipped with its “kid-friendly” setting, possibility of our little ones getting into and seeing things they shouldn’t is too high and too risky. The world has seen an increase in popularity for video diaries and video personalities. With all these people not caring about how they act or what they say, how do we protect our children from that which could cause problems at home? Savvy Apps may just have the answer.
Jellies is a new app created for parents who want to monitor what their child is watching, and for children who just want to watch their favorite show without being bombarded by unwanted suggestions. The app came into fruition thanks to Ken Yarmosh, founder of Savvy Apps, when he noticed that his kids were being influenced by what they were seeing online. Some of the videos they watched either scared them because they were too young to understand, or just altered their behavior for the worse.
While YouTube came out with YouTube Kids to try and provide kid-friendly viewing services, the extension only managed to make things worse. YouTube seems to rely too heavily on an algorithm designed to lead users to content they think they should see. As a child, the ability to decide what they could and couldn’t watch was just too much in their control, especially since a solution for distancing kids is movies/tv or videos online.
Jellies, however, takes the time to sift through millions of videos and make sure the content is more than appropriate for child viewing. This gets rid of the sarcastic, and sometimes mean, YouTube personalities that were teaching children that type of behavior was okay. These YouTube personalities don’t make their videos for kids, so a kid probably shouldn’t watch them.
The most important, and probably the best, thing about Jellies is its parent portal mode. Moms and dads can log on and pick their children’s favorite topics. They can control what the child watches and check to make sure children aren’t watching what they shouldn’t. The internet provides a large variety of topics that kids shouldn’t have to worry about for years to come.
Jellies creators referenced guidelines from The American Academy of Pediatrics and a San Franciscan non-profit called Common Sense Media to pick its videos and decide what was age appropriate and friendly. These videos aim to inspire creativity and demonstrate good manners like sharing or similar behaviors they’ll want to imitate. For older kids specifically, it encourages critical thinking, relationship skills, and responsibility.
Once the topics are selected, the app can easily be switched to the kid mode that allows the children to select from the topics offered. This way, children still feel like they’re in control of what they’re watching. Parents can choose to add topics that are educational, like shapes or numbers, or just simply entertaining to watch. While Yarmosh initially made the app for preschoolers, there are topics and videos available for older children, though Yarmosh thinks it might be a bit more difficult to pry older children away from YouTube after not having any other option and being subjected to it for so long.
The app currently has over 3,000 videos scattered across 100 different topics for each child viewing pleasure. These videos allow children to learn and explore without having to worry about advertisements or inappropriate content being shoved in their faces. This means that Jellies is free of online stars and won’t show kids toys that they’ll eventually beg parents for because they saw it online.
This does, however, mean that a monthly subscription is required to fully actress Jellies and all its perks. But, for the betterment of the youngest generation, $4.99 doesn’t seem too bad at all. Jellies has new topics and videos being added on a weekly basis, so children won’t get bored and content won’t get stale. And children won’t even know the difference, but parents definitely will.
Have one or more children watching things they shouldn’t? Jellies could be the perfect solution for you! Download it here: http://jelliesapp.com
