Family Vloggers: Something Needs to Change

Hi, thank you for sharing your perspective. There are a lot of important topics that are timely to address. While there won’t be one blanket rule that works for every one / every family, and we’ll never fully know someone’s context and circumstance, we can find measures and best practices that better safeguard children’s well-being. Looking forward to continuing the convo. 💜

Raven Symoné said she has every bit of her Cosby money. Her parents never spent it and now she continues to use it as investment. She had some good parents.

its so disgusting to me when family channels exploit their pre teen daughters especially. They post "she got her first period" or "shopping for her first bra." I cant imagine going through puberty online for millions to see.

The idea that kids have no option but to be recorded everyday, watched by millions and picked apart by complete strangers on the internet will NEVER sit right with me. Makes me so uncomfortable.

The "kids benefit from this as much as the parents" argument smacks a lot of my abusive parents telling me my non-physical needs didn't need to be met because "I put a roof over your head and food on your plate."

Think about the kids who are self-aware about their own exploitation, but feel like they can’t speak up in fear of ruining their parents’ careers, causing financial loss for their family, etc... what immense pressure to have as a child

I can't even imagine not being able to differentiate my family memories between real and fake for the camera. It's so disheartening 🥺

If any of you have watched wife swap, then you know it’s about families with different lifestyles/beliefs that exchange moms for a few days and learn about each other and themselves. One time they had a family who were family vloggers and the “new mom” made them have no internet for a week or however long it is. At the end, one of the girls who was about 10 years old said to her “I’m not ready for you to leave. I feel better not being on camera. I feel more confident.” It broke my heart because I don’t know if those parents stopped. And she wasn’t a three year old who likes anyone who gives her a cookie, she is a fully conscious person with her own opinions and ideas.

I can’t even imagine letting the internet know my children’s NAMES let alone broadcasting their entire lives for random strangers to watch

It annoys me endlessly that a lot of family vloggers are faith based. And therefore think they have the moral high ground on everything, but then go and exploit their children on the Internet. It’s creepy that parents profit so much off their children but also YouTube & other social media platforms profit so much off of their child employees. Great video, Hannah. I can’t wait to see this series. I think it will really make a big wave in trying to change some of the things that are behind the times in protecting children on the Internet. Hopefully other content creators will continue to speak up about this too.

Also moms of disabled children posting vidips of their kids having meltdowns or in distress because they think it's "educational" it's so horrible for the privacy of the kids

Jenette Mccurdy made the same comments about how she was the sole breadwinner for her family and that she was pushed into acting. It's sad how often this is an occurrence. Thank you for using your platform to better society.

Her story sounds very similar to Jenette McCurdy's story as in being sole breadwinner for her family at age 10. This is horrendous.

Some of these kids have been on camera since literal birth and its pretty weird, like the truman show vibes

I love how youtube went overboard flagging and taking down videos to "protect" the children, even demonetizing doll customizing videos because they were flagged as for kids and screwing over those content creators in the process, but apparently does nothing when it comes to children being exploited on family channels.

I'll never forget seeing a clip from I think 8 Passengers (it was in a Hailey Elizabeth video) where one of the sons said he literally doesn't have any friends at school because of the family channel and my heart broke. So many of these kids are probably getting bullied in person as well as online and it's awful

“there needs to be people in that room that their only interest is supporting the kids “ said it all

I’m kind of at a breaking point. I really don’t believe people should be posting their underage kids. Mostly because they arent able to consent in a way that helps them understand the full scope of the consequences of being on the internet. They aren’t cognitively developed enough and rely on their parents to make the beat decisions for their health and safety. Thanks for bringing attention to this topic!

Emmy Made in Japan is my favorite YouTube mom. She's never shown more than her kids' hands on camera and refers to them simply based on their current age range

I would love for you to cover the Ryan’s World channel. A deep dive into that whole thing needs to happen.