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23-08-2019, 09:53 AM
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Would you let your child become a 'kid influencer'?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49333712

Social media "influencers" - people who promote goods and services for money online - are getting younger and younger it seems. And services are springing up to teach parents and kids just how to do it.

Ralphie Waplington is just two-and-a-half years old, yet he has almost 20,000 followers on Instagram. His page features pictures of him wearing gifted clothes, enjoying freebie trips and fronting posts sponsored by brands such as Peppa Pig and McDonald's. His parents, Stacey Woodhams and Adam Waplington, from Brentwood in Essex, set up the account in 2017 when he was just a couple of weeks old.

From toddlers appearing on carefully curated accounts set up by their parents, to teenagers creating their own channels on YouTube, more kids are becoming social media "influencers".

Sisters Elena, 11, and Clara, 9, from County Galway, set up their CupcakeSurpriseToysTV YouTube channel three years ago. They play pranks and challenge each other, and have already amassed 817,000 subscribers and more than 302 million views. Elena says their acting background and love of storytelling with toys inspired them to create the channel, where they regularly work with brands such Mattel and Moose Toys.

A survey by travel firm First Choice found that 34% of six-to-17-year-olds would like to be a YouTuber when they grow up. And almost a fifth (18%) said they would like to be a blogger or vlogger [video blogger]. Tapping into this demand to become the next Zoella or Ryan Kaji from "Ryan Toys Review" are camps costing up to $1,000 (£823) a week training children become YouTube sensations.

Dr Elizabeth Milovidov, an eSafety consultant and founder of DigitalParentingCoach.com., advises "Parents need to be aware of the effects that constant photo snapping can have on a child's mental, physical and emotional well-being."

Ms Milovidov also raises privacy concerns. "We are hearing more and more about children and young people who do not want to have an online presence or who are faced with an online identity created by their parents."

She also highlights issues such as bullying, grooming and identity theft.
It's a material world and, it seems, kids can get it for free .....

Why would they want to work when all they need is online "followers" .....

"15 minutes of fame" has now become "permanent online presence" .....
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23-08-2019, 10:03 AM
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Re: Would you let your child become a 'kid influencer'?

As long as it doesn't harm them and they can make a few quid why not?
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23-08-2019, 10:42 AM
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Re: Would you let your child become a 'kid influencer'?

Possibly at that age it's just a little young I reckon. Although what we have to understand is that youngsters are growing up in a world that is more and more driven by material possessions. Not forgetting of course money, as it always had been, although not in quite such a 'greedy' way as is often seen today.

Youngsters, and here I mean early and late teenagers, are far more 'worldly wise' than we probably were at their ages. I recently went shopping with a youngster of 16 and it surprised me with how she dealt with the world around her. In one shop that had all the goods displayed online, not in catalogues as used to be the case, she chose the item required. When I just asked her where the queue was to pay and collect it was made obvious payment was there and then by card machine at the side of the screen, out came her credit card and payment was made. All that was needed was to queue to collect required item. She has her own bank account, savings account and credit card, also she works one day at weekends.

Now, to me all that is far better than going out into the world as it is today totally without that knowledge and experience, as possibly many of us once did.
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23-08-2019, 10:49 AM
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Re: Would you let your child become a 'kid influencer'?

No I wouldn't mainly because most influencers seem terribly selfish and self entitled people. They get a warped idea of how important they are in the scheme of life. If they want to do it as adults that's their choice but I would wonder what I did wrong as a parent to make them think they as so important.
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23-08-2019, 11:07 AM
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Re: Would you let your child become a 'kid influencer'?

Nothing wrong with helping your kids realise that they are important, there's enough people will try to make them believe otherwise. Same with putting themselves first. It's an essential survival and success factor. It's a dog eat dog world.
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23-08-2019, 11:10 AM
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Re: Would you let your child become a 'kid influencer'?

No way in this world would I let a young child of mine take part in something like that!
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23-08-2019, 11:15 AM
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Re: Would you let your child become a 'kid influencer'?

Originally Posted by The Artful Todger ->
Nothing wrong with helping your kids realise that they are important, there's enough people will try to make them believe otherwise. Same with putting themselves first. It's an essential survival and success factor. It's a dog eat dog world.
Oh they are all healthily aware of their importance what we don't encourage is them thinking they are better than anyone else, equality is important to us and makes them decent adults who don't judge or think they are more entitled than anyone else.
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23-08-2019, 11:57 AM
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Re: Would you let your child become a 'kid influencer'?

I can’t say how l’d feel, it’s a different time now from when my children were young. I’d imagine, they are only showing that they are budding entrepreneurs?

I follow Twiggy and LBC’s Steve Allen, so l suppose, l’m as bad as the young kids that do the following!
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23-08-2019, 12:02 PM
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Re: Would you let your child become a 'kid influencer'?

Originally Posted by Julie1962 ->
Oh they are all healthily aware of their importance what we don't encourage is them thinking they are better than anyone else, equality is important to us and makes them decent adults who don't judge or think they are more entitled than anyone else.
I don't "do" equality. Status is a continuum from zero to hero.
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23-08-2019, 12:09 PM
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Re: Would you let your child become a 'kid influencer'?

Originally Posted by The Artful Todger ->
I don't "do" equality. Status is a continuum from zero to hero.
Well I'd be quite ashamed if any of mine treated anyone as less than equal we don't do judging people because of their religion, sexuality or colour.
 
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