A friend of mine was on vacation when she found out that her 10-year-old daughter had started her own YouTube channel. Perhaps even worse, her first video received a thousand views. Who were the viewers? They had no idea. My friend promptly made her daughter delete the channel. My initial thought was, How harmful can it possibly be for a kid to have a YouTube channel? Part of me didn’t feel like it was a big deal. I mean, would anyone besides their friends watch it? Then I came across a documentary called Bad Influence about a number of kid influencers. The documentary showed the darker side of kid influencers that made me consider it more.
Over half of young people today want to be influencers. But kids don’t know the implications and potential dangers of what they’re desiring. Even parents sometimes don’t know. Obviously kids can be influencers—there are many out there. But should they be? Let’s answer that question by taking a look 5 potential dangers.
1. Safety
Here’s a stat that should turn your stomach. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2024 that the followers of one particular pre-teen girl influencer was 92% adult men, many of whom take a sexual interest in children. This is common across the industry. If that’s not bad enough, the Journal went on to say that Meta’s algorithm “will then recommend users’ sexual content related to both children and adults. It will recommend child-focused accounts for the user to follow.” In other words, it will feed them more kids to follow and connect them to other people who have the same interest. The New York Times reported that one man even commented, “It’s like a candy store,” while another wrote, “God Bless Instamoms” for putting their kids on the app. Do we want our kids exposed to (or their images in the hands of) this many people who have ill will?
2. Pressure
Being an influencer may look easy, but it’s a grind. The pressure to produce daily content, look perfect, and maintain an audience is not something kids are equipped to deal with, nor should they. Dangerously, maintaining an audience often involves pushing the limits of what’s appropriate. They end up doing things that can hurt them and others. Kids need to be kids. They’re not developed enough to navigate what’s appropriate and what’s not. That’s our job as parents, to place boundaries around kids so they can grow and mature in a healthy environment. Unfortunately, it’s easy for parents to slide into the temptation of the next point.
3. Exploitation
Once the money starts rolling in, it becomes tempting for adults to jump on the train, and it becomes harder and harder to get off. A number of kids in the Netflix documentary Bad Influence were experiencing abuse. One of the moms interviewed said, “I thought I could protect [my daughter] from it.” But she couldn’t, and she kept her daughter in that situation. Why? Because the payout was too big. It’s hard to resist the temptation, especially for middle or lower income earning parents. In Hollywood, it took years to develop laws to protect child actors. Meanwhile, there were a number of casualties along the way. Just look at the laundry list of former child actorsw who’ve spoken up about how people who should have protected them actually harmed them. Currently, there aren’t any laws that protect kid influencers from being exploited by adults. The potential damage is high. Do we really want to put our kids or ourselves in this position?
4. Negative Feedback
One thing Jimmy Kimmel’s Mean Tweets taught me was that it doesn’t matter how great or popular celebrities are—they are going to receive negative comments no matter what. Unfortunately, this is also true of kid influencers. But kids don’t have the experience, perspective, or solidified identity to handle that kind of criticism. It’s dangerous to open them up to trolls and negative comments during their formative years. A 2021 study by Child Psychiatry and Human Development showed that negative feedback resulted in increased feelings of guilt and shame. All of that can lead to a lower self-image.
5. Social Media Impact
Social media is addictive enough, especially for kids. It’s had a number of negative effects on our kids, including anxiety, low self-esteem, and shortened attention spans. Encouraging them to be influencers only gives them more reasons to be glued to something that’s hurting them. Our kids need to know, as do we, that we were created with great artistry by a loving God. When they know that, it solidifies their identity and sense of belonging. It’s harder for them to know their unique makeup and beauty when they’re swimming in a social media world of comparison, critique, and cruelty. The social media world is something they need less of, not more.
Sound off: Is it ever safe online for kid influencers, or should we keep our kids’ lives private?
Huddle up with your kids and ask, “What are some good things about social media? What are some bad things?”