How would you feel if your entire life was put on blast?
As a young adult, your main job is discovering who you are. Naturally, embarrassment is a part of that process.
Most people have experienced a bad haircut or worn terrible outfits on the first day of school. Typically, one can attempt to erase moments from their memory. However, if embarrassing moments are permanently displayed on the internet for potentially millions to see, it is impossible to start fresh.
“It’s nice that my mom posts me, but sometimes she doesn’t ask which pictures to post so I have no control over what part of myself goes on the internet,” says Zoe-Marie Brown, 12.
Family vlogging is a new phenomenon, “with viewing time for family vloggers increasing by 90% in 2017 and still increasing to this day,” according to TheScienceSurvey.com.
My parents don’t use social media, it feels great to know that everything online of me is because of me.
— Julian Gajewski, 12
Many viewers enjoy watching a seemingly perfect family, but parents of family vlog channels have recently been under fire for allegedly exploiting their children for profit.
YouTube family vlogger, Ruby Franke, received massive backlash in response to her family’s YouTube channel, 8 Passengers.
After a disturbing 911 call from a neighbor, Franke was arrested on August 30, 2023, on two counts of aggravated child abuse. According to NBCNews.com, her youngest children, Eve (9) and Russell Franke (12), were found malnourished and wounded.
The Franke family is not the only family that has been accused of exploiting their children for content.
Julian Gajewski, 12, remembers a YouTube channel entitled Roman Atwood Vlogs.
Gajewski recalls the vlogger posted a video dropping off their eldest son in the middle of the freeway.
“Realistically he probably went back and picked him up, but how desperate are you for views that you drop your son off in the middle of the freeway,” says Gajewski.
Why families partake in vlogging is no mystery. Parents are able to stay home with their children and are provided with lucrative opportunities and public appearances that the children would otherwise not be able to partake in.
The issue appears when the line is blurred between parent and manager.
“Family vlogging looks great at first glance, but when you think deeper, you can see the true effects of it,” says Benjamin Domanski, 12.
When parents are more concerned with filming pivotal moments in a child’s life rather than comforting and supporting a child in need, children can feel unimportant or as if they are constantly “on the clock”.
Being utilized for content can cause intense psychological damage to a young child, according to TheScienceSurvey.com
Sometimes I’ll show my son a picture before I post it and he’ll tell me if he likes it.
— Mr. Anthony Lanfrank
Until recently, there were no laws in place to protect children of family vloggers on social media.
However, according to Fortune.com, Illinois will require social media influencers under 18 to maintain a log of their earnings to ensure the children are compensated for their work. The law is to go into effect in July 2024.
Lankfrank agrees with Illinios’s law, stating, “I’m not going to give my 4-year-old a ton of money, but if children are putting in the work, they should receive a portion of that money when they become old enough to handle it.”
This law only addresses the hours of work, but not the invasion of privacy or emotional and psychological repercussions of family vlogging.
Without being in the spotlight, kids can put to rest the memories of growing up and allow themselves to make mistakes without being criticized by the public.
