NEW YORK, United States — More than 95 per cent of YouTube videos examined in an investigation of American pupils’ viewing habits during school hours were not educational.
The NBC News investigation, published on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, reviewed more than 17,000 videos accessed by 11 pupils, raising questions about the use of Google’s video platform on school-issued computers.
The findings showed that some children were spending substantial portions of their school day watching entertainment, sports footage, and other material unrelated to their lessons.
The investigation also documented difficulties faced by schools seeking to restrict YouTube without depriving teachers of access to instructional videos.
Thousands of Videos, Little Educational Content
NBC News obtained browsing histories from parents concerned about the amount of technology their children were using at school.
The records covered 11 pupils, from the second year of primary school through the final year of secondary education.
Reporters used artificial intelligence alongside manual examination to classify more than 17,000 videos, including advertisements.
More than 95 per cent were found to contain no educational material.
Five of the children had watched between 1,200 and 5,800 videos during lessons over the previous academic year. Two others had accessed more than 500 videos within two months.
One eighth-grade pupil in Pennsylvania had viewed 4,784 videos, including sports clips, entertainment programmes, and animations created using artificial intelligence.
The material examined also included hundreds of videos featuring profanity, references to drugs and alcohol, or sexually suggestive content.
The investigation did not establish that these viewing patterns were representative of American pupils generally. The parents who supplied the records had already expressed concerns about technology use in schools.
Nevertheless, the findings provided documented examples of children using school technology extensively for activities unrelated to education.
Wider Data Show Heavy YouTube Use Among Some Pupils
A separate analysis by Securly, a company that provides internet filtering and monitoring services to schools, examined YouTube activity involving approximately 610,000 pupils.
According to findings cited by NBC News, about 10 per cent of those pupils spent more than 26 minutes a day watching YouTube.
The data also identified 911 primary-school pupils who spent more than five hours daily on the platform.
Among older students, more than 2,800 watched videos for upwards of two and a half hours a day.
These figures reflected a smaller group of particularly heavy users rather than the viewing habits of all pupils in the study.
The widespread availability of YouTube in schools has developed alongside the adoption of laptops, tablets, and online educational services.
Teachers use the platform to demonstrate scientific concepts, explain mathematics, present historical material, and supplement classroom instruction.
But access to an educational video can also provide access to the platform’s much larger collection of entertainment and user-generated material.
Features such as automated recommendations, continuous playback, and YouTube Shorts allow pupils to move rapidly between videos, including those unrelated to their assignments.
School Districts Begin Restricting Access
The findings come as a growing number of American school districts are reconsidering how pupils can access YouTube.
At least 30 districts, including those in New York and Los Angeles, have announced restrictions on the platform this year, according to reporting by ANSA.
In San Diego, school filtering systems blocked approximately 5.8 million attempts to access YouTube during the first seven weeks after restrictions were introduced.
The figure represents attempted access rather than the number of individual pupils trying to use the service.
Some parents interviewed by NBC News said their children struggled to resist watching videos even when they were supposed to be studying.
Schools, however, have faced practical difficulties in imposing comprehensive restrictions because many teachers incorporate YouTube videos into their lessons.
The question for administrators has therefore extended beyond whether pupils should have access to the platform to how that access can be limited to appropriate educational material.
Google Defends Its Classroom Controls
Google, which owns YouTube, maintains that schools have tools to control which videos pupils can access.
Jack Malon, a Google spokesperson, said educational administrators could block YouTube altogether or restrict viewing to videos selected by teachers.
The company also pointed to arrangements that allow assigned educational videos to be viewed without advertisements, recommendations, or unrestricted browsing.
YouTube’s Player for Education is designed to provide that limited viewing experience through educational software, including Google Classroom.
The system allows teachers to assign particular videos without directing pupils into YouTube’s broader recommendation system.
Google maintains that decisions about access can be made by individual schools and their administrators.
The company’s position contrasts with complaints from parents and some educators who say existing restrictions have not always prevented pupils from accessing distracting material.
The broader dispute has also reached American courts.
Hundreds of families and school districts have brought legal claims against YouTube and other technology companies concerning allegations that their services encourage compulsive use among children.
In one case in Los Angeles, a jury found that YouTube had been designed in a way that encouraged children to remain engaged with the platform.
The company has appealed the verdict.
Schools Confront Questions About Digital Learning
The NBC News findings highlight two different patterns of YouTube use within American education.
For teachers, videos can provide explanations, demonstrations, and materials that complement classroom lessons.
For pupils with unrestricted access, the same platform offers entertainment and other content outside the curriculum.
The investigation found that those two uses were not always effectively separated on school-issued devices.
The viewing histories reviewed by NBC News also illustrated why some parents are requesting greater access to records showing how their children use school computers.
As districts introduce additional restrictions, schools must determine how to preserve access to useful instructional material while limiting unrelated viewing during the school day.
The investigation establishes that some pupils have watched thousands of non-educational videos on school devices. It does not establish how widespread that behaviour is across the United States or, by itself, measure its effect on academic achievement.
