Youtube influencers have also started to target the younger generations by sharing things that they know will get these kids attention. Parents have started to notice that most of their children have become obsessed with these influencers. Many of these influencers are much older than their fans. As the article stated these much older influencers target their younger audience by using content that is often not appropriate for their targeted audience.
Youtube influencers have obviously mastered the art of targeting younger generations and it shows but the number of subscribers they have. PewDiePie who goes by this name on youtube is the most subscribed youtube with 72 million subscribers and he's not stopping there. This youtube influencer is amongst many who have been called out for their offensive and often racial actions. Two other influencers that have been highly criticized and Jake and Logan Paul, the two brother vlogers (video bloggers), both have a large number of subscribers many being young teens.
The Paul brothers over the past two years have climbed up the subscribers chart by posting some of the over the top videos where they often do very dangerous things. Logan most known for his controversial video in Japans suicide forest, started his youtube career by posting stunts and videos that specifically targets younger people. His younger brother Jake followed in his older brothers foot steps by posting insane videos including a video of him setting his own swimming pool on fire. The media has very publicly criticized these two vlogers, but some how children are still so drawn to them. How could that be? Because these two and many others know exactly what their young viewers like to see. They promote their viewers to be care free and to have fun and thats what kids like. Kids feel like youtube is their escape from reality, a place where they can enjoy themselves while watching people they look up to.
Overall I believe that Youtube is a great platform where influencers can influence and connect with their audience. But I do see where influencers can be so over the top with their videos to gain more followers that they become negative role models to their young viewers.
I'd like to hear what you guys think, do you think that the younger generation being obsessed with youtube is a bad thing? Do you think that these influencers use kids being so into technology to their advantage?
I agree that younger kids are becoming obsessed with these big channels such as the Paul brothers. I know there are others like Ricegum that literally make content that is meaningless, offensive at times, and rely on clickbait. And yet they seem to have millions of subscribers. And I think it is important to emphasis to younger their viewers are. I work at Loon Mountain as a ski instructor, and I remember last year, after the whole suicide forest controversy (which was when I found out that Logan and Jake Paul were a thing ☹), a lot of kids, some even 8 or 9, talked about how much they loved the Paul brothers.
ReplyDeleteI just think it’s a shame because there is so much great content on YouTube. I go on there to view political news and analysis by progressive channels. Every now and then, I also 0enjoy finding a funny or relaxing video. As great as that is, there is a dark side. These influencers that appear to be role models to these kids constantly push merchandise on them for profit, and I don’t think that’s ok. So yes, I do believe these big channels are taken advantage of the technology to influence kids. Even more scarier is that I don’t really see a way to stop them. Parents could take their child’s devices, but with how digitalized the world has gotten, I think that may come across as extremely unfair or unreasonable.
There has definitely been a rise in YouTube I feel like recently. Many people are starting to make YouTube channels to get money. They are using YouTube as a job now. Also, influencers are doing the craziest things that is very dangerous just for the views. One of my friends had a YouTube channel back when we were in high school. She had over 150,000 subscribers. When she recorded videos, it was not for the money it was because it was something that she loved to do. Now it is something that has to be outrageous so that people will watch and the influencer will make money. I think that kids see something that is unrealistic on YouTube with some of the videos that are posted. I feel that there is really no way that you can censor all of the content that is posted on any technology. It is really hard to see what your children are watching now. I think that there are some YouTube influencers that are actually really good for people to watch and are something that is just funny or entertaining. I definitely think that the YouTube influencers are using the obsession of technology to their benefit because they are making so much money off of it. They are also able to get into other areas like selling merchandise.
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