In its first years, it actually ran alongside a lot of interesting and significantly more scholarly shows (than what we have now) on those two networks. The early 2000s actually had some solid programming on the history channel. Pretty quickly devolved into pawn stars and ancient aliens after that, though. So, yeah, half to most of its run was alongside utter garbage.
Edit for clarification: More scholarly than the current and last decade and a half of shows on history channel and discovery.
It’s tough. A lot of kids use it to goof off or vape/do drugs in the bathroom. Even in middle school.
There are definitely kids you can trust, but many at least abuse it to goof off.
Edit: Forgot to state, US.