05 Aug The nightmare videos of childrens’ YouTube — and what’s wrong with the internet today

Have you wondered why some young kids can watch the unwrapping of a box on YouTube for the thrill of what inside? It’s all about sneaky advertising!

Writer and artist 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 and the “Finger Family Song” to algorithmically created mashups of familiar cartoon characters in violent situations, these videos exploit and terrify young minds — and they tell us something about where our increasingly data-driven world is headed.

“We need to stop thinking about technology as a solution to all of our problems, but think of it as a guide to what those problems actually are, so we can start thinking about them properly and start to address them,” Bridle says

Watch his (16 minute) TED talk on YouTube here