Skip to main content

The nightmare videos of childrens' YouTube — James Bridle

5,884,209 Views

87 Questions Answered

TED Talk

Let’s Begin…

Writer James Bridle uncovers a dark, strange corner of the internet, where unknown people or groups on YouTube hack the brains of young children in return for advertising revenue. From "surprise egg" reveals to algorithmically created mashups of cartoon characters in violent situations, these videos exploit and terrify young minds -- and show us what's wrong with the internet today.

Additional Resources for you to Explore

Watch these recommended TED-Ed Lessons and TED Talks:

Is there a limit to technological progress?
Many generations have felt they’ve reached the pinnacle of technological advancement. Yet, if you look back 100 years, the technologies we take for granted today would seem like impossible magic. So — will there be a point where we reach an actual limit of technological progress? And if so, are we anywhere near that limit now? Clément Vidal consults Kardashev’s scale to find out.

How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day - Tristan Harris
A handful of people working at a handful of tech companies steer the thoughts of billions of people every day, says design thinker Tristan Harris. From Facebook notifications to Snapstreaks to YouTube autoplays, they're all competing for one thing: your attention. Harris shares how these companies prey on our psychology for their own profit and calls for a design renaissance in which our tech instead encourages us to live out the timeline we want.

How we need to remake the internet - Jaron Lanier
In the early days of digital culture, Jaron Lanier helped craft a vision for the internet as public commons where humanity could share its knowledge -- but even then, this vision was haunted by the dark side of how it could turn out: with personal devices that control our lives, monitor our data and feed us stimuli. (Sound familiar?) In this visionary talk, Lanier reflects on a "globally tragic, astoundingly ridiculous mistake" companies like Google and Facebook made at the foundation of digital culture -- and how we can undo it.

Next Section »

About TED Talk Lessons

TED Talk Lessons are created by TED-Ed using phenomenal TED Talks. Do you have an idea for a lesson? Create it now using any video from YouTube »

Meet The Creators

More from Cyber-Influence & Power