← Back to Blog

Why We Stopped Using YouTube (And Built Our Own Solution)

The kitchen-table conversation that convinced our first customers.

For parents who are tired of the YouTube algorithm showing their children increasingly bizarre content...

Over the past few months, I've walked into the living room to find my kids watching:

  • A random guy keeping exotic fish in a filthy swimming pool
  • Teens bragging about how expensive their toys are
  • Videos with constant bleeping and expletive substitutes
  • Exploitative dads talking their kids through bizarre playtime scenarios
  • A YouTube Short playing on repeat, my child staring blankly at the screen

Every single time, they started with something innocent. Every single time, the algorithm and related videos led them down a rabbit hole I never would have approved.

If you're a parent using YouTube, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

The YouTube Kids Promise vs. Reality

YouTube and YouTube Kids carries a simple promise: a safe, curated experience where children could explore educational and entertaining content without stumbling into the weird corners of the internet.

The reality? It's playing an exhausting game of whack-a-mole.

How We Got Here

We tried YouTube Kids first. But the content we actually wanted our kids to watch—specific educational channels, certain creators we trusted—often wasn't available in the YouTube Kids app. The library felt limited and watered down.

So like many parents, we just let them use regular YouTube, hovering nearby to monitor what they watched.

But the algorithm had other plans.

No matter how many channels we blocked or videos we flagged as inappropriate, the recommendations kept pushing our kids toward content that was technically "kid-friendly" but increasingly strange, low-quality, or outright exploitative.

The Three Problems With YouTube

Problem #1: The Algorithm Optimizes for Watch Time, Not Quality

YouTube doesn't care if your child is watching something educational or watching someone unwrap 47 toy eggs. It cares about keeping them watching. The algorithm learns what captures attention and serves more of it—even if that means bright colors, loud noises, and increasingly bizarre content.

We noticed our kids asking to watch "just one more video" more frequently. The content was designed to be addictive, not enriching.

Problem #2: You're Always Three Videos Away

Even if you start with Bluey or StoryBots, YouTube Kids' autoplay and recommendations mean your child is always just a few clicks away from content you'd never approve.

The "related videos" sidebar is like a highway system where every exit leads somewhere you didn't plan to go. Sure, you can turn off autoplay—but then you're constantly hovering, selecting the next video, defeating the whole purpose of the app.

Problem #3: Content Moderation Is Impossible at Scale

YouTube has millions of videos uploaded daily. Even with AI filtering and human reviewers, inappropriate content slips through constantly.

More recently, it's the endless stream of low-effort content farms: toys being unboxed, kids playing with slime, family vloggers exploiting their children for views. Technically appropriate, but is this really what we want our kids consuming?

What Parents Actually Need

After one too many bizarre video recommendations, I sat down and thought about what a truly safe YouTube experience would look like:

  • You pick every channel your kids can access. Not an algorithm. Not YouTube's moderators. You.
  • No recommendations, no related videos pulling them in unplanned directions
  • No ads interrupting their experience or promoting things you don't approve of
  • Works on devices you already own without needing to hand over a tablet

In other words: YouTube's incredible library of content, but with parents in complete control.

Why We Built Gorilla

When I couldn't find a solution that met these needs, I built one.

Gorilla is a desktop app that lets you hand-pick YouTube channels for your kids to watch—and that's it. No algorithm. No recommendations. No autoplay pulling them down rabbit holes.

Here's how it works:

  1. You download Gorilla on your Mac or Windows computer
  2. You select the YouTube channels you approve (Bluey, National Geographic Kids, PBS Kids, whatever fits your family)
  3. Your kids watch on any device with a browser—laptop, tablet, maybe even a TV browser
  4. They only see videos from channels you've chosen

That's it. When they finish a video, they go back to the home screen and pick another one from your curated list.

The Unexpected Result

Here's what surprised us most after switching to Gorilla: our kids watched less.

Without the algorithm optimizing for maximum watch time, without autoplay funneling them from video to video, they'd watch what they wanted and then... stop. They'd go play with toys. Go outside. Read a book.

Turns out when you remove the addictive design patterns, kids naturally self-regulate.

Is This Right For Your Family?

Gorilla isn't perfect. It's designed for watching on devices with good web browsers—laptops, desktops, tablets, or phones. If your main use case is TV-based watching, the setup can be trickier (though it does work if your TV has a decent browser).

But if you have computers, tablets, or other browser-capable devices? It's perfect.

Gorilla works best for families who:

  • Are frustrated with YouTube's algorithmic recommendations and related video rabbit holes
  • Want to hand-pick quality channels for their children
  • Prefer a one-time purchase ($9 during beta) over monthly subscriptions
  • Have browser-capable devices their kids can watch on

It's not the right fit if your kids primarily watch on a TV without a browser, or if you want a completely different content library (in which case Netflix or Disney+ might be better options).

But if you're tired of fighting the algorithm and want simple, complete control over what your kids watch on YouTube? That's exactly why we built this.

Getting Started

You can learn more about Gorilla and download it at gorilla.tube.

It takes about 10 minutes to set up, costs $9 (no monthly fees, no subscriptions), and works on Mac and Windows.

We're currently in public beta, which means we're actively improving based on parent feedback. If you have ideas for features or run into issues, we'd love to hear from you.