The Dangers of Family Vlogging

Ok everybody, don't panic. I don't dislike family vloggers, but let's face it, there are some things that are just weird about them. There is a mentality that all YouTubers "suffer" from some form of narcissism, or are just extremely self-involved. This may be true for some of them -- like ones who vlog literally every day or even multiple times a day -- but not all of them.

I remember YouTube back in it's "hey-day". The beauty community -- YouTubers like Kandee Johnson, and Michelle Phan -- wasn't having controversies every other week, clickbait wasn't a tactic as much as it is now -- it was there but creators didn't straight up LIE to the audience about what they're video was going to be about just to get a click -- , the OG YouTubers weren't nearly as problematic as they are now, and were everywhere in trending and recommendation lists... for the right reasons.

Family vlogging wasn't really a "thing" then like it is now. I'm not going to name specific channels, mostly because I don't want to be sued, but also, I don't wish to give some of them the recognition and drive traffic to their channels. I think how it mostly evolved was just one vlogger or one couple doing their thing. Later, they get married and have kids. At that point, they've already shared this much of their lives with their audience so they feel the need to document every single detail of their lives there on after, and share that with any and everyone on the internet as their lives change. Is there something wrong with this?

Yes and No.

Like I said, I don't have a huge problem with family vloggers, my best friend Stephanie is one. However, she is like...normal. She has a variety channel, which on occasion features her husband and kiddos. She doesn't upload every day (usually 1-2 times a week, which to me is normal to gain and retain an audience... I think I need to take notes cause I suck at uploading regularly), and she -- to me anyway -- doesn't overshare their lives in depth.

BUT...

Then you have the ones who do a multitude of things that just... make me wonder why they are vlogging and sharing so much of their lives. Some of these things include:

1. Daily Vlogging
• This is mostly a "how stable is this person" concern
2. Showing their kids too much
• There are a couple things I find weird about this.
3. Oversharing their day to day routines and/or saying what their plans are for the following day.
• This is mostly a safety issue

The daily vloggers like I said must have to have some level of narcissistic behaviors or think way too much of themselves. Daily vlogging can go one of two ways: from a genuine form of documenting and sharing to being another family capitalizing on their kids. Now, I know that some creators like Brittani Louise Taylor who will vlog throughout the week and do a "recap" once a week. However, this style of family vlogging makes more sense to me. You don't see too much, just 30-second clips of what she vlogged, sometimes longer, but it's pretty condensed footage. She sits in front of the camera and goes day by day and talks about what they did and shows clips. She covers multiple days between her talking and her clips from the week and her videos are roughly 8-10 minutes long which is nothing if she were to be vlogging and uploading 8-10 minutes every day like some of these other creators. The other thing that makes this style more acceptable, is Brittani is talking about things that they did -- as in past tense -- and hardly ever mentions what they're going to be doing the following week. On occasion, she says "I'll be in L.A. next week for some stuff," but she's very vague about where in L.A. and what "stuff" she'll be doing. I'm sure this has to do with her previous relationship, and if you don't know what I'm talking about go buy her book "A Sucky Love Story".  

Some creators who vlog every day not only overshare what they did that day but then proceed to share details about what they're doing the following day. This is insanely stupid. Especially if they've given their full names, what city and state they live in, a simple search on Google or a background check can give psychos way too much information and can compromise their safety. This is why I don't say my last name, or what city I live in. Just my name is Whitney and I live in Texas (you know, the state with a population of close to 30 million people).

Hitchhiking off of that, the daily vlogging when kids are involved makes me wonder how that affects the child's development. If they're used to seeing a camera everywhere they go, it will either be just 1.) something that's there and they don't care OR 2.) any little thing they do, they'll want to be filmed and shared with the world and become narcissists. 

I understand that we live in a digital age and we all live on our phones. 

We take photos and videos for our personal library, but the majority of people aren't taking those videos and posting them online for the world to see. Sure they may add them to Facebook or Instagram, but they could be "private accounts" or for "friends only", and that's fine -- seems to be the norm actually. It's when children know that the things being filmed will be going online and how it might affect them in the long run. It just makes me wonder, with the combination of all of my questions, what it could do to the kid as they get older? How will it affect them when they get in the real world? Could it potentially affect their chances of getting a good job -- example: future boss man Google's the applicant and finds YouTube videos that he/she doesn't like and thinks this person might not be fit for the job. I have a lot of questions when it comes to kids being in YouTube videos/having their own channel...

1. Do they fully understand what's happening?
2. Can they really consent to be in videos at a young age?
• What if they wish to not be in the videos that are already uploaded when they get older, and want them taken down... do the parents -- or whoever -- have to comply with that?
3. YouTube has an age minimum of 13-years-old to have an account, so should YouTube also have a matching age minimum for minors appearing in videos?
• This could prevent the parents from capitalizing off of their kids from basically birth, and potentially causing them harm.
• This is also a safety concern. I'll get into this in a minute.

I took to Facebook to ask my friends what they thought about Family Vlogging when it comes to minors being in the videos and I was asked what I thought about child stars, and if they should be banned. My views on children going into show business are a little weird because you have some who come out normal (like Amanda Seyfried and Hilary Duff are a couple of examples) but the majority end up having some sort of public breakdown and can't handle it. I honestly don't think kids know what they're signing up for when it comes to childhood stardom. There is a handful that of them that have a good idea of the pros and cons but most of it is the parents being greedy in my opinion and only seeing the potential money to have them set for life. So many childhood stars when they grew up thought they were going to be financially set only to find out their parents took their money... Lindsay Lohan, Corey Feldman, Macaulay Culkin and some have even had to sue their own parents because they mismanaged their money. 

I think some family vloggers do the same thing. They're capitalizing if their kids and it's not the kids choice. I think it's selfish and unfair to the kids. Unless their parents (these kid channels and/or child actors) worked as their manager, publicist or something where they earn some percentage -- meaning, not the entire amount of money being brought in -- of what their child makes, they have NO right to touch that money.

I don't think children fully understand what social media is to make an educated decision to say "yes" or "no" to being online. Even some adults don't get it, overshare, put themselves in dangerous situations, and risk putting themselves in danger. 

Many children are imaginative and could misconstrue what is actually going on and thus it could compromise their safety and/or mental wellbeing. This is why I think YouTube should also require the minimum age limit to be IN YouTube videos to match the same age as the requirement to have an account in the first place -- which is 13-years-old. None of this "linking to the parents" account nonsense. I don't believe all parents are trying to capitalize off of their kids, but there are some that it's clear that's what they are doing. I doubt YouTube will ever change their age policies because family vlogging is so popular, and like I said, many of them aren't doing it for the wrong reasons. I really do believe that their channels started off as one thing, and over time -- especially if they have been on YouTube for years -- their lives changed and family vlogging is what their channel/niche turned into.

So what brought this on? Why did I sit here for three days composing an editorial on what I think about one of the most popular styles of videos out there?

I saw something over the weekend that started this snowball effect in my brain, and here we are.

Aaron and I were out getting a snack. He parked the car and I see this vehicle advertising their YouTube channel. Since I didn't think many people in this area were creators I got curious and looked them up to see what kind of channel they were and if I should subscribe -- that's what advertising is supposed to do, so good job Mr. Man. I go on there, and it's a channel that does "family vlogs, pranks, and family vacations". They didn't have that much content, but the kids were in most of the thumbnails as well as one or both parents. This normally wouldn't have bothered me, and my who opinion on family vlogging wouldn't have been questioned had it not been for this guy.

We walk in and get our snack and sit down to eat. I look up cause I hear a baby crying -- I'm almost nine months pregnant, so baby sounds are triggering my ear to look up -- and there they are. It's the dad with their three kiddos -- all look to be under the age of 7, including a baby that at most was a year old. The two older kids are fine doing their thing, but the baby was crying for some reason -- what that reason is I don't know. Dude is over in the corner with his phone plugged into the wall staring at a screen ignoring the baby. Like, completely. He eventually asks the sibling sitting closest to the baby to try to calm them down. It worked long enough for him to pick up his phone and snap a photo. Again, this normally wouldn't have bothered me.

The thing that bothered me, is they were sitting right next to the door. He wasn't paying attention AT ALL to his kids, especially the baby which he was the furthest from. He practically had his back to them and was more focused on what was happening on his phone -- I imagine he was posting it online somewhere with the hashtag #FamilyOuting -- than paying attention to his kids.

I started thinking about how he's advertising that he's a family vlogger on his vehicle. It's just there. The channel name, encouraging people to "like, comment, and subscribe" etc. We live in a border state. I'm not trying to make this about politics, but we and the surrounding areas have had a problem with people going missing, and it's likely into trafficking. I myself experienced some circumstances that I believe were trafficking scams and/or attempts to steal me. What if some creep saw this guy's "Follow us on YouTube" decal, found them, check out the channel, saw the kids, and tried to scope them out? Even if he didn't do that, he knows there are kids that live with whoever is driving that vehicle. They could have followed him home, figured out where he lived... In this scenario, with him not paying the slightest attention, they could have easily attempted a kidnapping, if not actually kidnapped one of these kids.

I just hope that anyone who gets into YouTube thinks about this, knows and understands the risks of putting your child/children online and does whatever they can to keep them safe. 

I'm about to have our first baby this summer. My husband and I already talked about social media and we are on the same page. Even though our Facebooks are "Friends Only" with our posts, it's still a public forum. Those images are stored somewhere on their servers. Because of this, we will not be posting photos/videos of our daughter -- or any other future children --- online. Anywhere. At all. No Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, nothing. 

I do want to share photos of her with friends and family, but I may have to go old school and send actual photos. But we will see when that time comes.