As social media websites start to become more popular, many genres start to become appealing to viewers. Lifestyle videos are one of the more popular genres that come across viewers’ timelines and FYPs (For You Page. Depending on the influencers’ lives, their content can be completely different. Some influences are college students and young adults so their lifestyles may consist of them going to school, working, cleaning, or even going out with friends. Some influencers even get as young as teenagers who enjoy recording their school and personal lives.
Many people are okay with others recording their lives because it does not harm anyone, but viewers become concerned when parents start to use their children for content, or when they post moments that should be only shared with a child and a parent online.
Some believe that the problem of the child’s safety and privacy also plays a role in whether or not influencers, or even parents, should be posting their children on social media. Avery de Carion expressed her feelings on young children being posted on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and other social media.
“I definitely think they [the parents] are kind of exploiting them in a way because A., the children usually don’t have a say in what is being posted about their life on the internet,” de Carion said. “The parents will typically film intimate moments or things like that, and really invade the child’s privacy.”
People also believe that social media can be negative and children shouldn’t be exposed to it at all. Ma’Kiyah Celestine, a junior, believes that social media has negative effects because of the people and the things that are posted on it.
“I believe that they shouldn’t put their children on social media because children have a certain innocence and social media doesn’t really have a filter,” Celestine said.
Many social media influencers may share moments like their children expressing their feelings to them, or moments of them having one-on-one bonding time with their child. Videos like these get mixed reviews from viewers because some believe that the parents just want to show their life to the world and have no ill or bad intentions while Others believe that moments like those should only be shared with a parent and a child.
Erica Williams, the Spanish ll teacher, expressed her on the matter of children and social media. Williams believes that the intention of all parents who post their children on social media isn’t bad intent.
“I know some people do believe it’s dangerous and I get that, and to me, the understanding is reasonable. You don’t want people to take pictures of your kids and apply them for negative reasons,” Williams said. “I don’t have a problem posting pictures of my kids, but I don’t post a lot of pictures of my kids either.”
Although some don’t agree with children being posted on social media, not everyone has that same opinion. Lieutenant Colonel Aricai Berry, believes that posting pictures of your children on social media is okay depending on what is being posted on social media.
“I think if it’s positive, then it’s good. So I don’t agree or disagree,” Berry said. “I don’t share my kids on social media.”
Depending on what is being posted, some people feel it is okay for children to be posted by their parents, some believe that special moments shouldn’t always be shared and others have neutral opinions. But it’s believed by all parties, that there are times when parents post their kids on social media, and they can go overboard. As long as a parent can stay with positive content and doesn’t overuse their child for views, most viewers don’t have problems with parents having their kids posted on social media.
