Questioning myself about my purpose-driven product 🤔

Damir Tahiri
1 reply
I have two kids and I noticed that aggressively edited, fast paced YouTube content have negative impact on their behaviour. They have much less patience and interest for activities such as walking in nature, riding in a car, reading a book or even playing with toys. For me, it's terrifying that some future generations may be unable to enjoy and appreciate these simple, real-life pleasures, and it seems to me this is already happening, as kids are getting addicted from their very young age to highly simulative internet content which makes a normal life experience simply boring for them. This is why I decided to build a Chrome extension and mobile app which is helping parents to take control over the fast-paced video content their children are watching on Youtube (I am launching the Chrome extension on PH this Thursday, feel free to follow it up at https://www.producthunt.com/prod... . Mobile apps are coming soon as well) But now, few days before the launch, I am starting to question myself if my extension/app is actually supporting a conservative/suppressing parenting. In recent history, parents tried to prevent their kids from various kind of stuff, from reading comics to listening different genres of music, and in most cases these efforts appeared to be wrong. I am wondering if my extension app is actually doing a same thing? I mean, I hope not, because my extension/app is designed for the youngest children, 1-5 years old, and at that age they don't even have strong preferences, they are just consuming what is being served to them. And what is often served is valueless, addictive, absurd and senseless. But, on the other hand, my extension/app does block something, and do prevent children from consuming something they would normally do. But, actually, they would not do it because they really like it, but because they are hooked by the marketing approach and presentation of the content. A lot of questions, huh? I have always dreamed of building a product that will make the world a slightly better place. But, sometimes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. What is your opinion on this?

Replies

Victor Haine Takahashi
Interesting questioning, and I think you should do what you feel is best for your kids despite the conservative/suppressing feeling. They can’t choose yet, and it’s definitely going to help improve their lives not to be addicted to that kind of content. However, it would be interesting to see if any studies show the damage/benefits of such exposure.