YouTube kids. Using children for content/freebee’s & How safe is it for them online?

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The rise of family vlogging has seen new mums and dads turn the lives of their kids into an online spectacle. But can they be sure this isn’t harming them?

Unlike traditional child performers, the children of YouTube are not currently subject to any psychological guidelines or legal protection.

In 2015, the Department for Education updated their licensing legislation for child performance, but specified “this does not extend to user-generated content, for example where young people or a family record themselves and share it on a website or social media”.

The current legislation states that children should not perform for more than six consecutive days, and children aged five to nine should not perform continuously for more than 2.5 hours a day. But it does not extend to user-generated content – the children of YouTube, who are filmed day and night, seven days a week, are not protected. They are also not protected from taking part in meet-and-greets and signings with fans at events such as VidCon, which have been known to last up to eight hours at a time.

When asked why the regulations do not apply to YouTubers, a Department of Education spokesperson said: “We trust parents to act in the best interests of their children.”

Though a nice sentiment, it seems perhaps a little naive, especially when there are financial gains to be made. Without legal protection, there is no guarantee that a child will see a share of these earnings. Nor is there any requirement for a child to consent to being filmed.

Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/technol...ging-child-safety-sacconejolys-katie-and-baby
 
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I personally think, if Youtubers are going to pimp out their kids, there needs to be more guidelines & precautions to protect them. A child actor would only be able to work so many hours a day, so I think the same should apply to Youtube kids. At least then they can have a balance and have some genuine memories, where they don't have to play up to a camera.

I also don't really agree with them doing things like meet and greets, loads of events etc. I don't know, it just makes me uncomfortable and I can't imagine its good for them - especially if they are quite naturally shy or introverted. Plus the thought of another child using their pocket money to meet them/essentially pay the Youtuber child makes me sad.

Another thing that worries me is the money. I know Inghams allegedly said they were saving some for each of the girls, and Issy got money from her channel, but I do wonder...it reminds me a bit of Hollywood stage parents. They get so money hungry that they put that before the well-being and wants of the child. I remember Macauley Culkin's parents essentially used him for money/stole a lot of it from him? (or something along those lines) instead of putting it into a savings account. Also what about if Youtube dries up in a few years and these kids suddenly have to go back to a more 'average' lifestyle? How are they going to adjust?
 
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I think it’s safe if the children still have a good grip on normality. Unfortunately as we have all seen this is not the case and these children are thrust into a world where they essentially live in a bubble of getting what they want when they want.

They are never really going to understand the concept of going out into the big bad world to work.

I do think trying to regulate vloggers would be hard though - especially if they blog mostly at home but I do think there should be something to protect the kids
 
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“We trust parents to act in the best interests of their children.”
I don’t think this is fair for the department of education to say. After all when parents split up and can’t agree on contact then courts get involved and decide for the child(ren), as the parents are deemed not to be acting in their best interests. Surely they realise this is the same for YT and that some parents don’t act in the best interests of the child and need intervention!
 
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I dislike the idea of a YouTube family. From the moment they are born, these kids often have no choice in whether or not they appear online and I think it's abhorrent. It's pimping out your children for views and likes, whether or not they try to say it's not. When the child gets older (or even turns 16) and makes the choice then it's fair enough, but for me, plastering your children's life online is dangerous. They're bending normality for their children and not giving them the privacy they need and deserve as minors. When teaching kids about online safety, you are encouraged not to give too much away, but YouTubers seem to think it's ok to be slack with information and as a result it's all too easy to find out their address, school and holiday locations etc. I never understood the logic of why YouTubers complain about not getting enough privacy when their day job is to literally film and broadcast their lives. Sometimes every day.
 
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I always wonder how the kids will feel when they turn 20, and know their full childhood was on view for everyone to see. I remember watching a vlog from the saccone Jolie’s of Jonathan creeping up the stairs as Emilia was pulling her tights up for school and hitching her skirt up innocently like any kid will getting dressed.
For all of this to be put on line for strangers to do whatever the please with the footage, and to then know your parents were making a fortune and funding their lifestyle on making your childhood available for anyone to view.
Damn that can’t sit well if the child is an emotional child that turns into a fucked up adult.
The inghams will be in therapy or rehab until their 60’s if the look back on the footage from the last 6 months alone.
I’d love to see the law be changed to include YouTube kids. But does that mean getting rid of “family” vlogging completely. My biggest issue is with the live chats from the likes of the Reese family and the R fam, and how the interact with viewers “haters” in front of the kids at night on live feeds.
 
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I think of how embarrassing it is for my parents to play some of the home videos they took of me as a child -- I imagine growing up with vlogging parents is the same as that, but times a million. It's online and accessible to anyone, and it is online forever (even if the video is "taken down"). Not to mention, vlogging is way more personal and in-your-face than home videos. Home videos don't contain potty training, diaper changing, etc. etc. for the most part, but vlogging does (because parents want to "keep it real" and "be relatable").

I don't think it's fair to the kids to splash them all over social media -- occasionally showing them is alright, IMO. But, you can be a "YouTube Mummy" without exploiting your children. You can include children in vlogs without exploiting them, make videos about motherhood and parenting without including a child's image, etc.

It's up to parents to provide for their children, not the other way around. YouTubers need to stop making children perform and stop exploiting them for the parents' pay check! And parents need to be a bit more precious about their children's privacy.
 
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I am actually shocked that teens on family blogs are announcing 'Hey I started my period today'. That's wrong on so many levels in my opinion.

I don't think it helps other teens to be honest. I know it's natural but boys at school are so immature surely that opens them up for bullying.
 
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I've heard of people explaining it away as a "family business" and "children are allowed to work in a family business", and I just took that as fact, but I've just done a tiny bit of research and it's not as simple as they make out. Apparently it depends on the area you live in, but there are a lot of restrictions that these family vloggers don't seem to be sticking to.

https://www.gov.uk/child-employment/restrictions-on-child-employment [edit: found a better link]

One of the rules (may vary by area) is that children should not work for more than 2 hours on a school day. If a family vlogger is claiming a family meal out at a restaurant plus travel costs as a business expense, and that trip out takes more than two hours on a school night, would that be breaking the guidelines? Certainly raises questions.

And I wonder if these children have work permits.
 
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I understand why ppl use their kids on IG to get free stuff. I don’t think I like it but I get it 🤷🏻‍♀️
What I don’t get is giving full disclosure of where you live and what school they go to. I could name a few accounts but I expect you can guess.
Don’t get me wrong, even the ones who don’t tell you outright you could dig into it and find out but there are accounts that openly tell you. That is appalling!
Use your kids if you want, but to put them in potentially dangerous situations to gain from it is irresponsible. Utterly abhorrent 👎🏻
 
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I understand why ppl use their kids on IG to get free stuff. I don’t think I like it but I get it 🤷🏻‍♀️
What I don’t get is giving full disclosure of where you live and what school they go to. I could name a few accounts but I expect you can guess.
Don’t get me wrong, even the ones who don’t tell you outright you could dig into it and find out but there are accounts that openly tell you. That is appalling!
Use your kids if you want, but to put them in potentially dangerous situations to gain from it is irresponsible. Utterly abhorrent 👎🏻
I agree with everything you’ve said 👏🏻
 
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The thing i dont like about it is that they put their children on camera for the world to see before they are at an age to decide for themselves if its what they want. Once its online, its out there forever. They are then open for criticism that they havent had a say in. Also ive noticed now there are very young children doing their own "mukbangs" . I say their own but its the parent who has given them the food and set up a camera infront of them. It makes me very uneasy