The Problem with KidFluencers

The Problem with KidFluencers

Social Media, already a vicious trap for young kids, has developed a new virus. This time, it is not Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. This is a whole new genre of KidFluencers. The term originates from Kid+Influencers and quite openly reflects its meaning.

Recently, many of us have seen on various platforms like Instagram, YouTube, etc., that small-school kids are becoming full-time content creators. I'm not going to take their names, but you probably get an idea of who they are. These people will give you spiritual and religious knowledge that does not seem wrong until their childhood happiness turns into stress and their full-time job at such a tender age.

This can be said as an extension of another Social Media ‘Pandemic’ of daily vlogging. Every 2nd street has a vlogger whose days start with “Hey Guys,” and everything will be recorded from then on. All the daily activities are done with one hand because the other obviously contains a camera. And the best advertisers for this content are kids. The sad part about this is that in the race of the infinitely coming views and likes, the childhood of children is being sacrificed.

Young kids have been getting the craze of Social Media from the day they were born. They were forced into the front end of a camera and were trained just like that. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that babies are literally born in the  “Social Media World”. Now, their fan following has risen from such a young age, so they get even more motivated to become a KidFluencer.

The YouTube content created by Kids is a very big market, so big that even a special platform, “YouTube Kids,” is being used for such videos. The most viewed channel on YouTube is Cocomelon, a kids' channel. Now, this channel has nothing wrong with it, it teaches nursery rhymes. But the problem comes when we look at the wider extensions of this genre. As children get addicted to such videos, they sometimes get motivated and start their own channels. Nowadays, younger kids can’t even eat food without watching these videos. And almost all of the young kids have the same situation. Like Gen-Z used to watch” Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma” while eating dinner, they watch YouTube while having breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

The major problem is that almost the entirety of this segment is unregulated. Most of us don’t realize the effect of Social Media, we don’t even have a clue about what is going on with their mental thinking. Even books for LKG or UKG students get certified before distribution, which include alphabets, rhymes, numbers, etc., and the standard rises gradually as they get promoted and get exposed to complex topics. But this segment has the same content being watched by a 3-year-old or a 9-year-old. What they watch, what they learn, what they upload, there is no one to take care of them. The only things people care about are the numbers (views, likes, comments, shares, etc.). 

The major problem arises when they are not only the content consumers but also its creators. An adult content creator has to follow some Social Media guidelines and IT Rules, but the creators in this field are the ‘non-independent’ minors. No labour laws get applied to them, no working hours for them, no regulations upon them. Some children are making content, they others are becoming content sources themselves. The once-popular “Uncle Ji Paani Pila Do” meme explains this perfectly. In most cases, parents are the ones involved. They are the ones managing or making accounts for them.

Many reports show that such exposure at a very young age affects their mental health a lot; they face insecurity at a very tender age, and no one talks about these problems.

The Oh-so-famous case of a young child making religious content and being rightfully trolled for not going to school. If you still can’t figure out who, then have a look at this. A literal celebrity-like page. I am not even gonna speak about him because once we get onto his case, it will be an endless loop.

Let’s be honest; even teens(including me) and adults once open Social Media and sit on it for some time, scrolling through reels. Be honest with yourselves: What do we not see on Insta, X, and Reddit (intentionally or unintentionally), and what effect does it have on our minds? After an age, we can control its effect to an extent but this very same thing is being watched by kids as well who get influenced very easily and whose brains are still developing. They watch this and develop a mentality that may not be appropriate for their age. Those dance videos by young females on some specific songs are too inappropriate to be even discussed by a 15-year-old (me).

I am also clearly saying that not all KidFluencers are bad. Some of them even teach concepts that improve their communication and concepts at the same time. Even those who make cooking videos, etc., are doing a great job, and even their parents are catering to them well. They know the Game of Social Media and the risks of it, but a majority of KidFluencers watch other influencers and want to become like them in their videos, lifestyle, etc., which is mostly not suitable for their age. The sheer disgust I get when I come across teen girls dancing to “bold” songs is immeasurable. Not because I am jealous but because I am genuinely worried for them, the kids I don’t even know.

Who is watching  and why, we don’t know. A lot of negative comments are being left, which include trolling, body shaming, etc. Their privacy is being stolen so much sometimes by their parents.

The problem here is not kids making Social Media content. But the problem is the neglect of its negative effects. The solution is the “Regulation” of such content that is being exposed. These include:

-Risks of Video Making

-How to handle trolling?

-How to handle Body Shaming?

-and most importantly, to draw the margins.

There is a reason why celebrities like Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma etc. insulate their kids from unwanted media attention. We are people who want to launch our kids into success from their birth itself. Recording videos of them eating, sleeping, studying, and any other thing to make them a so-called-’star’.We need to value their privacy and reduce the greed for views. Keep that limited to yourselves and do not expose it for your kids. WE NEED TO THINK AND TEACH ABOUT THIS.

Share this article with someone you think is on their way to launching a “KidFluenza”. In the end, everyone has to be on social media, learn from it, and avoid it simultaneously.

Written by a 14-year-old (does maybe contradicts my views)