Children that post frequently and have public social media accounts has opened a whole new controversy in the online world. Adolescents who are forced to be active online put up with the consequences of their parents’ actions. Videos where children face exploitation get millions of views, mostly from younger audiences who fail to understand the inappropriate activities that occur off camera and in between shots.
Child exploitation is becoming more and more frequent in today’s world. Parents online have their kids join in on the latest trends, buy the newest items and collaborate with other popular creators. They also tend to spoil them continuously as well as manipulate them so that they will continue to create videos. Numerous viewers online believe that having children constantly film their lives takes away the true meaning of childhood.
Many of these family creators have accounts on TikTok where they upload videos of their kids for easy views, likes and money. Though this may not be their initial intention, some argue that it is not appropriate for parents to be allowing their kids to share their life online when they are so young and vulnerable.
Although this is a reasonable concern, many parents trust their kids to be active online and to make the right decisions; but, another factor that these parents fail to consider is the amount of bullying that circulates online. These harmful comments can especially make younger teens on social media insecure and they may not have a trusted adult to talk to about their concerns. This may lead to teens bottling up their emotions and feeling like they are not good enough. Hate that forms and spreads online is one of the reasons that many parents are hesitant to allow their children access to online platforms such as TikTok, Youtube and Instagram, as many kids lose touch with the rest of the world when granted access to these apps.
What social media users do not see is the physical and mental abuse that takes place off camera. Youtube family channel “8 Passengers,” shared many fun videos online that made viewers entertained. This family’s presence online may have seemed perfect, but when not recording her children, mother Ruby Franke would scream at her children, threaten them and even banned her fifteen year old son from his room, so he had to sleep on a bean bag for seven months. This family sparked online concern for the Franke children and made viewers truly aware of the cruel things that were edited out.
Even though family channels may seem perfect, viewers at home are typically blinded by the constant veneer of perfection and fail to see the signs of neglect and abuse happening behind the scenes. Due to exploitation these children do not get the childhood experiences they deserve.
