Twitch for an 11 yo boy?
October 31, 2018 8:52 AM   Subscribe

My 11yo son wants to get a Twitch account. Should I let him? I know almost nothing about Twitch, except that people use it to livecast gameplays. How toxic is it? How dumb is it? Is it in any sense a risk?

My son has been online his whole life, has his own internet connected laptop since he was 1, has a youtube channel, instagram account, etc.

We've talked many times about the sketchy side of the internet, and he has a healthy paranoia, is aware that creeps pose as kids, that he should never give out his personal info, etc. In fact, he's the one that suggested I ask this here in the first place.

Any reasons not to let him?
posted by signal to Computers & Internet (17 answers total)
 
Does he want an account because he want's to stream?
posted by Static Vagabond at 9:02 AM on October 31, 2018


Absolutely let him, on the condition that he tell you when the next Mr. Rogers or Bob Ross marathon is.
posted by Melismata at 9:03 AM on October 31, 2018 [3 favorites]


I don't even know when our oldest son got a Twitch account (he's 16 now) but it's one way teens communicate, and consume media.

What we did with our oldest is we maintained access to his computer and social media accounts until he was 12.

We also reviewed online bullying, which I think is the biggest problem with social media, rather than exploitation. I also said that as the parent, I would be legally liable for any sort of illegal activity he did online, from bullying to torrenting.
posted by JamesBay at 9:09 AM on October 31, 2018


I watch Twitch off and on and I think in the aggregate it's better than Youtube comments, so if he already has a Youtube account, I can't see a reason to keep him off Twitch. However, if he wants to stream and not just watch, I'd be more wary of that.
posted by Automocar at 9:17 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]


I've seen a lot of healthy, positive communities. If he wants to watch, just be aware which ones he's a part of and see if they're toxic. Usually large ones aren't really IME and chat moves so fast.

If he wants to stream, I don't see the harm if he never reveals personal details and lets you know if anyone is weird. It is unlikely he will have many viewers so he should be aware of that and not disappointed. It can be a really positive experience with friends watching/chatting because it's like hanging out but with videogames! Though at that age, real hangouts are very important too (less so when we're 30+ and in different states).

I'm not a parent, but I think internet literacy is better than non-literacy and it sounds like you've educated him well. If he wasn't at all versed in online stuff, this would be more risky. Watching videogames can be pretty fun BTW, you might be surprised if you like watching something together.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 9:23 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]


If he's just going to be a consumer of Twitch, then having the account just mainly gives him access to participate in chat. Now, on the whole, Twitch chat can be absolutely awful both in intent and just mindless visual noise flying by the screen, a woman on screen during a promoted event is enough to create pages of shitty men bile, but the flip side is, on a quiet, or well moderated channel-- people can actually talk and interact with the streamer in a positive way.

If you could talk to your son and explain that you don't want him being the noise-mob on Twitch and just being a good community member, and you think he's mature enough to adhere to that-- then go for it.
posted by Static Vagabond at 9:24 AM on October 31, 2018 [5 favorites]


If he's just planning to chat and follow people, there isn't much danger in terms of sketchiness (any more so than usual, at least), but the communities can be extremely negative - the usual GamerGate-esque misogyny and racism is unfortunately pervasive, especially on the more popular channels. As much as I hate being a buzzkill for this sort of thing, there's a real problem with kids getting involved in that kind of toxic environment without having the tools to think critically about what's being said.

I would only allow it if you're willing and able to lightly monitor the communities he's participating in (there are good/positive ones on there, despite the bad apples) or you really trust his judgment.

If he wants to stream, it's probably best to wait a few years.
posted by mcfighty at 9:25 AM on October 31, 2018 [5 favorites]


First off: Twitch T&Cs explicitly say it is not for minors under 13.

Why does he want an account? To join in with chat? To stream? I think savvy community-interaction nowadays goes way beyond "don't give out your real name". There is insidious stuff like GamerGate that can get its hooks into the brains of boys and young men just from watching certain videos and having the Recommendation algorithms or other users link to worse and worse stuff. These are the things I'd be wary of - the big-name/viral streamers might get banned for bad stuff but I bet there's a lot that goes unreported.
If he just wants to watch Twitch streams - he does not need an account for that.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 9:27 AM on October 31, 2018 [12 favorites]


The Twitch Services are not available to persons under the age of 13.

on preview: what EndsOfInvention said.
posted by terrapin at 9:47 AM on October 31, 2018 [2 favorites]


For what it's worth, adults tend to steer clear of younger kids streaming -- there's certainly plenty of them, and there's often no one actually watching their streams.

I stumbled onto a kid's stream once while looking for other people playing a game I'd recently gotten into. He was very excited to finally have his first viewer and had to restart his stream so I could hear his voice. Then I could hear his mom yelling at him that he had 5 minutes to get dressed and get in the car, lol.

I don't watch a ton of actual games on Twitch (I'm there for the painting and watch repair -- it's great!), but I'd say the chats on Twitch tend to be far less toxic than in-game chat. Most popular streams have moderators in the chat, and they're quick to ban the jackasses.
posted by katieinshoes at 10:21 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]


Too young to officially have an account and the place is incredibly toxic and encourages all sorts of nasty bandwagony thought and behaviours. I wouldn't even recommend you let an adult get an account if you have the authority.
posted by GoblinHoney at 10:26 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]


The little I've seen of twitch streams, the comments are full of racial and sexist slurs. For example this article from only today explains how one streamer tries to block racist trolls, in part by responding "Have the yeehaw cousin-fuckers appeared?". So erm, yeh, seems a real toxic site and at best a waste of time just watching people play games and beg for money. Amazon actually bought the site for like a billion dollars but unsurprisingly doesn't publicise ownership on there much!
posted by JonB at 11:48 AM on October 31, 2018


This is a complicated topic. As an adult that grew up with the internet during its more wild-west days and that is still fairly aware of current trends (I occasionally watch Twitch streams myself), I know the only answer is a very unsatisfying one: "it depends."

Twitch is absolutely chock-full of racism (though explicit slurs are usually banned), misogyny, and strange sexual content. Most of the content is brainless and worthless in my opinion, but there are some diamonds in the rough that may justify the entire site's existence. You can find exploitative streams that will instill or reinforce prejudice, disgusting people being immature and literally farting into their microphone, or just boring nonsense. However, art, educational content, and even interesting philosophical and political debates can be found there, though they are rare. Sound like anything else? (the rest of the internet maybe?)

I will ignore the numerous privacy, monetary, safety, and emotional issues associated with actually streaming oneself, but if that comes up I can offer insight into that as well, it is just another topic all on its own.

Essentially, a young person can spend too much time on entirely the wrong sort of content online, and that can literally warp their mind. But, that can be said about any online content. I have a post where I laid out my thoughts on violent video games, and some of my thoughts here are similar. Check my post history.

Essentially, your child could be spending their time more productively, and I would make sure they are much more focused on real-life interaction. If they are mature enough and watch the right stuff for short periods, they will be fine (or improved!) There is fairly severe danger though. Isolation, indoctrination, and extreme parasocial relationships are all possibilities, but seem like they will be mitigated by your good parenting. You can message me if you want additional perspective or tips on what to watch and what to avoid, and how to stay (relatively) safe if your child wishes to stream themselves.
posted by hypercomplexsimplicity at 12:22 PM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]


If he wants a Twitch account I assume he's already watching Twitch so the worst has happened, but, to second what a few others have said, a lot of Twitch is utterly abhorrent. In most channels of any size (or any channels streaming esports events), chat tends to be a non-stop flow of racist, sexist memes (that also happen to be unbelievably stupid). Twitch is a horrifying cesspool when you consider its relative legitimacy (popular, owned by Amazon, etc.).

There are of course good and well-moderated channels and I am a fan of many streamers, but I can't look at the chat on e.g. any Dota tournament without becoming immediately convinced that the internet was a mistake.
posted by sinfony at 2:05 PM on October 31, 2018


First off: Twitch T&Cs explicitly say it is not for minors under 13.

That's because of COPPA and not wanting to deal with the headache that collecting data from under-13s involves, not because they think that minors under 13 shouldn't watch any of the content on the site. (Just as an obvious example, they ran a marathon of every Mister Rogers' Neighborhood episode. I personally follow a bunch of streamers that make sculptures, throw clay pots, and build LEGO kits, none of which I would hesitate in the least to recommend to a parent whose kid wants to watch interesting stuff on Twitch and have chats that are clean and easy to follow.)

That said, I would recommend picking accounts to follow together and setting boundaries on what he's allowed to watch.

Amazon actually bought the site for like a billion dollars but unsurprisingly doesn't publicise ownership on there much!

Except for the part where they flog Twitch Prime everywhere they possibly can, and if you don't at least generally associate the capitalized "Prime" with "Amazon" these days, you aren't paying attention.

In fact, he's the one that suggested I ask this here in the first place.

I don't know why but this struck me as somehow he thinks by you asking here, it'll result in him getting away with something. Probably just my brain reverting back to when everything I ever said to my parents involved some sort of scheme of getting them to go along with what I wanted. I was also part of the generation that grew up during the get-a-second-phone-line dial-up era -- in our case, to a local text-based freenet through the library that did have full internet access behind it, which I promptly used to figure out how to download porn at 2400 or 4800 bps. I think in some part of my mom's brain she still thinks that's why I "turned out" gay, because that's the only porn I could find or something.
posted by tubedogg at 3:35 PM on October 31, 2018


Things your child can already do without getting a Twitch account:

- watch streams
- read chat of streams


Functional things that would happen as a part of getting a Twitch account:

- write in chat of streams
- 'follow' streamers your child likes (enables email notifications when streamer goes live)
- stream themselves (with proper equipment // software)


Your child is already exposed to most of the potential racism // sexism // other associated bullshit by simply visiting the site. I don't think allowing them to have an account is going to enhance the danger much more. Given that you state your child is already versed in basic Internet safety, if you're comfortable with your child watching Twitch at all, I don't see a reason to not permit an account.
posted by isauteikisa at 8:04 PM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]


If they’ve YouTube and Instagram I think the train has already left the station. I’d keep an eye out for what / who they’re following though.
posted by Middlemarch at 4:15 PM on November 1, 2018


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