YouTube’s CEO limits his kids’ social media use — other tech bosses do the same

YouTube's CEO Neal Mohan is the latest successful a enactment of tech bosses who person admitted to limiting their children's societal media use, arsenic the harms of being online for young radical person go much evident.

Mohan, who took the helm of YouTube's enactment successful 2023, was conscionable named Time's 2025 CEO of the Year. He said successful an interview with the magazine that his children's usage of media platforms is controlled and restricted.

"We bash bounds their clip connected YouTube and different platforms and different forms of media. On weekdays we thin to beryllium much strict, connected weekends we thin to beryllium little so. We're not cleanable by immoderate stretch," Mohan said successful 1 TikTok video posted by Time Magazine connected Thursday.

He stressed "everything successful moderation" is what works champion for him and his wife, and that extends to different online services and platforms. Mohan has 3 children: 2 sons and 1 daughter.

Experts person continued to dependable the alarm connected however excessive smartphones and societal media usage has harmed children and teenagers. Jonathan Haidt, NYU prof and writer of "The Anxious Generation," has advocated for children to not person smartphones earlier the property of 14 and nary entree to societal media earlier the property of 16.

"Let them person a flip phone, but remember, a smartphone isn't truly a phone. They could marque telephone calls connected it, but it's a multi-purpose instrumentality by which the satellite tin get to your children," Haidt said successful an interrogation with CNBC's Tania Bryer earlier this year.

This week, Australia became the archetypal state to formally bar users nether the property of 16 from accessing large societal media platforms. Ahead of the legislation's transition past year, a YouGov survey found that 77% of Australians backed the under-16 societal media ban. Still, the rollout has faced immoderate resistance since becoming law.

Mohan said successful a much extensive interrogation with Time connected Wednesday that helium feels a "paramount responsibility" to young radical and giving parents greater power implicit however their kids usage the platform. YouTube Kids was launched successful 2015 arsenic a child-friendly mentation of the Google-owned platform.

He said his extremity is "to marque it casual for each parents" to negociate their children's YouTube usage "in a mode that is suitable to their household," particularly arsenic each genitor has a antithetic approach.

Several tech bosses person taken a akin approach. YouTube's erstwhile CEO Susan Wojcicki, besides barred her children from browsing videos connected the app, unless they were utilizing YouTube Kids. She besides constricted the magnitude of clip they spent connected the platform.

"I let my younger kids to usage YouTube Kids, but I bounds the magnitude of clip that they're connected it," Wojcicki told CNBC successful 2019. "I deliberation excessively overmuch of thing is not a bully thing."

Bill Gates, Microsoft's co-founder, is amongst the tech titans who are against allowing young radical excessively overmuch surface time. With 3 children, present adults, Gates openly talked astir not giving them compartment phones until they were successful their teens.

"We don't person compartment phones astatine the array erstwhile we are having a meal, we didn't springiness our kids compartment phones until they were 14 and they complained different kids got them earlier," Gates said years ago.

Meanwhile, billionaire Mark Cuban would adjacent edifice to installing Cisco routers and utilizing absorption bundle to show which apps his children were connected and unopen disconnected their telephone activity.