As a young adult, your main job is to discover who you are. Naturally, embarrassment is a part of that process.
Maybe you got a bad haircut or wore a terrible outfit for your first day of school. You may want to erase these moments from your memory. But, imagine that it was permanently displayed on the internet by your parents for not just your peers but potentially millions of strangers to see.
“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
.sno-pullquote-654a54bc591fb { display: flex; float: left; margin: 30px 30px 30px 0; width: 50%; border-color: #888888; border-top-width: 5px; border-right-width: 5px; border-bottom-width: 5px; border-left-width: 5px; background-color: #dddddd; } .sno-pullquote-654a54bc591fb p.pullquotetext, .sno-pullquote-654a54bc591fb p.quotespeaker { color: #000000;; } .sno-pullquote-654a54bc591fb .pullquotepic { width: 33%; margin-left: 25px; } .sno-pullquote-654a54bc591fb p.pullquotetext { font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.4em; } .sno-pullquote-654a54bc591fb .quotebar { background: #dddddd; flex: 0 0 90px; margin-top: -15px; margin-left: -15px; padding-left: 15px; padding-top: 15px; margin-right: 15px; } .sno-pullquote-654a54bc591fb .largequote { color: #870606; } .sno-pullquote-654a54bc591fb .quotebody { width: unset; }Many enjoy watching a seemingly perfect family, but the parents have recently been under fire for allegedly exploiting their children for profit.
YouTube family vlogger, Ruby Franke, has most recently seen 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 and Russell Franke, were found malnourished and wounded.
The Franke family aren’t the only ones that have been accused of exploiting their children for content.
Screenshot of @feliciaybrown’s, mother of Zoe-Marie Brown, post on Instagram. (Luka Konklin)
Julian Gajewski, 12, recalls a channel called Roman Atwood Vlogs.
Gajewski says the channel 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 even get offered brand deals and trips that the children would otherwise not be able to partake in. Not to mention, a popular YouTube channel is quite lucrative on its own.
The issue comes in 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,” Benjamin Domanski, 12.
When parents film an important moment in a child’s life or don’t comfort a child feeling intense emotions, it may make them feel unimportant or as if they are constantly “on the clock”. Being utilized for content can cause intense psychological damage to a young child.
“Sometimes I’ll show my son a picture before I post it and he’ll tell me if he likes it,
— Mr. Anthony Lanfrank
.sno-pullquote-654a54bc59d66 { display: flex; float: left; margin: 30px 30px 30px 0; width: 50%; border-color: #888888; border-top-width: 5px; border-right-width: 5px; border-bottom-width: 5px; border-left-width: 5px; background-color: #dddddd; } .sno-pullquote-654a54bc59d66 p.pullquotetext, .sno-pullquote-654a54bc59d66 p.quotespeaker { color: #000000;; } .sno-pullquote-654a54bc59d66 .pullquotepic { width: 33%; margin-left: 25px; } .sno-pullquote-654a54bc59d66 p.pullquotetext { font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.4em; } .sno-pullquote-654a54bc59d66 .quotebar { background: #ddd2d2; flex: 0 0 90px; margin-top: -15px; margin-left: -15px; padding-left: 15px; padding-top: 15px; margin-right: 15px; } .sno-pullquote-654a54bc59d66 .largequote { color: #870606; } .sno-pullquote-654a54bc59d66 .quotebody { width: unset; }
Until recently, there were no laws in place to protect children of family vloggers on social media.
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,”