#Influencers*

[prokopetz]

The trouble with the rise of the YouTube Video Essayist™ is that everybody wants to be the next Defunctland or Hbomberguy, but all the wannabes know is how to be an influencer, so the resulting video essays are always really about themselves. You'll get a forty-five-minute video with maybe fifteen minutes of actual, topical information padded out with half an hour of tedious theatrics about how hard it was to do research for the video and how nobody wanted to talk to them, and I'm just sitting here like "yeah, dude, it was hard because you don't know how to perform research, and nobody wanted to talk to you because your behaviour toward your prospective sources amounted to borderline harassment, and that's how it looks in your own version of events which has clearly been spun for optics – I can't even imagine how badly you must have gone about this in reality".

[catchymemes]

[wocina]

[atavist]

When Johna Ramirez’s son joined a wildly popular circle of tween YouTube influencers, it seemed like he was fulfilling his Hollywood dreams. But in the Squad, fame and fortune came at a cost.

Crushed.

Another incredible true story from The Atavist.

[useless-catalanfacts]

A day in the life of someone who posts on the internet in Catalan *cue dozens of Spanish people asking "what's wrong with your mouth", ordering him to speak in Spanish or "in Christian", saying he's rude for speaking in Catalan, calling him "polaco" (derogatory Spanish word to mean a Catalan person), calling the Catalan language a dialect, saying he is possessed because he's speaking Catalan, etc*

This is a video by Sergi Mas showing some of the comments he gets on YouTube. He makes videos about mountain biking that he posts on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. And the first comment he got on his first YouTube video was already someone telling him he should do it in Spanish.

Some days ago, another creator who posts his videos in Catalan (Joan Sendra, find him on Instagram and TikTok) answered to a Spanish person who was complaining that it's rude to speak Catalan/Valencian on the internet instead of Spanish because then there's people who don't understand you (as if everyone in the world spoke Spanish lmao). Joan, who is tired of getting this kind of comments so often, answered: there are already endless videos and things to watch on the internet in Spanish. In fact, if you look for [the topic he was talking about in the video that this guy commented] all the videos are in Spanish except for mine. And yet you had to come to me, the one in Valencian, and tell me that I can't make a video in my language and that I can only make it in yours. If you don't like it, it's so easy to find another one!

However, it's not a matter of actually being interested in what's being said in a language they don't speak. It's about the imposition of the language they consider superior (Spanish) and telling speakers of the languages whose land Spain had occupied that they are useless and should be ashamed of existing in public. Well, we aren't. Like Sergi's video, don't let the comments disturb your macarrons.

[msterpicasso]

@digiitaldash

[plaaymate]

[feminist-space]

Article by Fortesa Latifi:

"Being the child of an influencer, Vanessa tells me, was the equivalent of having a full-time job—and then some. She remembers late nights in which the family recorded and rerecorded videos until her mother considered them perfect and days when creating content for the blog stretched into her homeschooling time. If she expressed her unease, she was told the family needed her. “It was like after this next campaign, maybe we could have more time to relax. And then it would never happen,” she says. She was around 10 years old when she realized her life was different from that of other children. When she went to other kids’ houses, she was surprised by how they lived. “I felt strange that they didn’t have to work on social media or blog posts, or constantly pose for pictures or videos,” she says. “I realized they didn’t have to worry about their family's financial situation or contribute to it.”

Vanessa, who requested anonymity to speak freely about her family dynamics, says she helped create content for huge companies like Huggies and Hasbro when her mom landed endorsement deals. When she reached puberty and began menstruating, her mother had her do sponsored posts for sanitary pads. “It was so mortifying,” she says. “I just felt like I wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out.”

Being part of an influencer family changed everything about her life, Vanessa says. “Sometimes I didn’t know where the separation was between what was real and what was curated for social media.” And her mother’s online presence indelibly warped their relationship. “Being an influencer kid turned my relationship with my mom into more of an employer-employee relationship than a parent-child one,” she says. “Once you cross the line from being family to being coworkers, you can’t really go back.”

...

Khanbalinov has had zero new offers since he took his kids offline. “When we were showing our kids, brands were rolling in left and right—clothing companies, apps, paper towel companies, food brands. They all wanted us to work with them,” he says. “Once we stopped, we reached out to the brands we had lined up and 99 percent of them dropped out because they wanted kids to showcase their products. And I fought back, like, you guys are a paper towel company—why do you need a kid selling your stuff?”

The law has woefully lagged behind the culture here, but there’s signs that policymakers might finally be catching up. In 2023, in addition to Illinois, three other states—New York, Washington State, and New Jersey—proposed bills to protect influencer kids. Contrast that with the flurry of legislative activity in just the first two months of 2024. Seven more states—Maryland, Georgia, Ohio, Missouri, California, Arizona, Minnesota—have introduced similar legislation. Some of the bills are going one step further to protect the privacy of the kids featured in this content. In some states, proposed legislation would include a clause that borrows from a European legal doctrine known as the “right to be forgotten”—it would allow someone who was featured in content when they were a child to request that platforms permanently delete those posts. None of the current legislation introduced, however, would outright bar the practice of featuring minors in monetized content.

...

The movement on this issue was glacial for years, but it finally feels like the ice has thawed. Much of that progress is thanks to activists like Cam Barrett (she/they), a 25-year-old creator (@softscorpio) who uses TikTok to talk about her experience of being overshared in their childhood and adolescence. Barrett doesn’t go by her legal name anymore because of the online history it’s tied to. “I love my legal name,” Barrett tells me. “I just don’t love the digital footprint attached to it.” Last year, Barrett testified in front of the Washington State legislature as a proponent of a bill to protect influencer kids. This year, they testified again—this time, in front of the Maryland legislature.

“As a former content kid myself, I know what it’s like to grow up with a digital footprint I never asked for,” Barrett told the Maryland House of Delegates Economic Matters Committee in February. “As my mom posted to the world my first-ever menstrual cycle, as she posted to the world the intimate details about me being adopted, her platform grew and I had no say in what was posted.” And yet, Cam says her activism has been healing.

For Cam and other influencer children, getting a paycheck won’t give them back what they lost—a normal childhood unobstructed by the cameras pushed into their faces. But it could be the beginning of some version of restitution. “My friends say I’m fighting for little Cam,” she tells me. “It feels very healing because I didn’t have anyone to fight for me as a kid.”"

Read the full article here: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a60125272/sharenting-parenting-influencer-cost-children/

[probablyasocialecologist]

Being the child of an influencer, Vanessa tells me, was the equivalent of having a full-time job—and then some. She remembers late nights in which the family recorded and rerecorded videos until her mother considered them perfect and days when creating content for the blog stretched into her homeschooling time. If she expressed her unease, she was told the family needed her. “It was like after this next campaign, maybe we could have more time to relax. And then it would never happen,” she says. She was around 10 years old when she realized her life was different from that of other children. When she went to other kids’ houses, she was surprised by how they lived. “I felt strange that they didn’t have to work on social media or blog posts, or constantly pose for pictures or videos,” she says. “I realized they didn’t have to worry about their family's financial situation or contribute to it.” Vanessa, who requested anonymity to speak freely about her family dynamics, says she helped create content for huge companies like Huggies and Hasbro when her mom landed endorsement deals. When she reached puberty and began menstruating, her mother had her do sponsored posts for sanitary pads. “It was so mortifying,” she says. “I just felt like I wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out.” Being part of an influencer family changed everything about her life, Vanessa says. “Sometimes I didn’t know where the separation was between what was real and what was curated for social media.” And her mother’s online presence indelibly warped their relationship. “Being an influencer kid turned my relationship with my mom into more of an employer-employee relationship than a parent-child one,” she says. “Once you cross the line from being family to being coworkers, you can’t really go back.” Vanessa will never get back the childhood that she gave up for the family business—not getting any of the money she helped earn is just another disappointment, even if it was entirely unsurprising. “My mom never led me to think there would be anything. She would continually remind me that the money she was getting from the blog or sponsorships was going toward us anyway through basic needs and that should be enough.”

[hel-looks]

Sini, 31

”I’m wearing various Scandinavian brands. I’m inspired by Japanese pop culture such as manga –especially shoujo manga – and visual kei. I’m a bit of a maximalist and love to do masculinity in a feminine way or vice versa.”

11 August 2023, Flow Festival

[catchymemes]

[ericshoney]

Our girl ~ The Sturniolo triplets

Warnings: Some language, my first Sturniolo triplets oneshot

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a warm Thursday afternoon. You sat on the large white sofa, scrolling through your phone as your head rested on Matt's lap. Both of you sat in a comfortable silence. Nick was in his room, editing the up and coming video of the week and Chris was....you had no idea, but it was quiet, which worried you.

As if the man could read your thoughts though, Chris soon appeared in the room. He gave you a wide grin as his eyes met yours.

"Let's go out!" He exclaimed.

"What?" Matt called.

"Are you deaf, dumbass. I said let's go out." Chris repeated.

"Where?" You asked.

"I don't know, I'm bored though." He answered with a shrug.

"I'm not just fucking driving around the cit-" Matt was quickly cut of by Chris' shouting.

"We'll decide in the car! I'll get Nick!" He shouted, running up the stairs to Nick's room.

You giggled watching him run off, sitting up so you could grab your shoes. One thing you loved with being friends with the triplets was no dull moments.

"Fucking goof." Matt mumbled, making you giggle more.

"How about happy ice?" You suggested as he got up of the sofa.

"Sure. I know Nick will agree." He said.

You nodded as you slipped your shoes on, silently Matt tied your shoelaces for you, knowing you always struggled to get them right and have them untied before you even got to the car.

"What the fuck, Chris!" You both hear Nick shout, as Chris comes running down the stairs.

"What did you do?" Matt asked with a sigh.

"He fucking jumped on me as I just finished editing!" Nick shouted before Chris could respond.

You look up at Matt to see him sigh again, you held in your laughter as you rushed to the stairs to the garage.

"Oh well we're going to happy ice!" You exclaimed.

"Hell yeah!" Nick exclaimed, his anger suddenly gone.

As Chris was yapping on about all the different flavours, you quietly, but quickly, climbed into the front seat of the car. Matt climbed in the drivers seat and laughed seeing you next to him.

"He's gonna get mad." He said.

"No he won't, he loves me." You state.

"Your not wrong." He replied.

You smiled as you heard Nick and Chris' voices get closer. Nick climbed in the back of the car just as Chris stood next to your closed door.

"Hey! That's my seat!" He exclaimed.

"Hey! That's my seat!" You mimicked, making the other two laugh.

"Your no fun." He pouted, sliding in next to Nick.

"You want to swap?" You offered.

"Are you comfortable?" He asked.

"Yes." You answered.

"Then no, your comfort means more to me than the aux." He said with a smile.

You smiled wide as Matt began to drive. You had some music playing as the guys sang along, you gazed out the window, watching the world go by.

Soon you arrived at happy ice, Nick ordered for all of you, which you were always grateful for.

"Hey look at that puppy!" Matt exclaimed, looking out the window, as a lady with a cute puppy walked pass.

"Aww! It's so cute!" You squealed, making the triplets smile. The one of many things they loved about you was your sweet personality and seeing you smile.

"Here you go, sweetheart." Nick said gently, passing you the sweet treat.

"Thank you!" You exclaimed, taking a bite happily.

The four of you then left, eating as you walked down the street. The guys stop to let you catch up every time you see something shiny or cute. Something particular that caught your eyes was a small moose soft toy. It was so cute you thought.

"What caught your eyes?" Chris questioned as the three siblings trailed back to you.

"Just a moose soft toy, nothing special." You mumbled, your eyes not moving from the cute item.

The guys knew it wasn't nothing, as you didn't move on. They shared a look as Nick nodded. Matt and Chris quickly distracted you as Nick went into the store and bought the moose for you, when he came out, you had returned to the car, the three of you on your phones.

"I'm back~" Nick sang as he slid into his seat.

"Did you get it?" Chris blurted out, earning a slap from Nick.

"Get what?" You curiously asked.

"Here." Nick placed the bag in your lap, leaving you confused as you peaked into the bag. A cute gasp escaped your lips.

"Woah thank you!" You exclaimed, making the three smile at your happiness.

"Anything for our girl." Matt said.

You held the toy close as Matt drove home, the smile not leaving your face, happy with how your day with your friends went.

[atavist]

Abuse, exploitation, and superstardom: Inside a wildly popular crew of teen YouTube influencers.

Crushed.

Another incredible true story from The Atavist.

[br3akfestattiffanys]

If your only excuse is that you are “not educated enough” after 7 months of continuous genocide, at that point you might as well say you are willingly choosing to be ignorant. We live in a generation where we have access to so much information and yet you are choosing to not look into what’s happening outside of your bubble…disappointment.

[msterpicasso]

@lanaposh