You Tube has become a worldwide phenomenon. Ordinary, everyday people now have a quick and easy way to post videos for anyone with internet access to view. There are music videos, movie clips, personal performances, how to videos, the variety is endless. Take Ok Go on Treadmills for instance, the band Ok Go released a choreographed video of its band members dancing on treadmills to You Tube and received over 1 million views in the first six days. The video got the band’s name out there, and they were later asked to perform the routine on the MTV Video Music Awards. On the other side of the spectrum, you have Charlie the Unicorn, which is an animated video about a unicorn named Charlie who journeys to Candy Mountain where he is eventually ambushed and one of his kidneys is removed. The randomness of this website is mind blowing. The freedom it has given to everyday people has created instant celebrities. Many of these internet phenomenons are only mere children. Lisa Belkin is the author of Motherlode, a parenting blog associated with the New York Times. Belkin did a piece on children who have received fame in the form of “hits” via You Tube. The question that arises is how much is too much?
For years parents have been accused of pushing their child prodigies into pageants, recitals, or auditions for their own personal benefit whether it be for money or fame or both. We’ve all heard the stories of the cheerleader moms who went to the lengths of murder to get their daughters on squads, or the pageant moms who force their little girls to practice hours upon hours every day instead of going outside to play. Then there are the parent’s who drive their children to audition after audition in hopes of getting them noticed. However, with today’s technology, pushy parents can show off their precocious child to the entire world with a few simple clicks of their mouse. You Tube has opened up a whole new can of worms for aggressive parents. What happens when the stage parent goes viral? Sadly, we don’t know the repercussions that these videos may have as the child grows older. In a Mom Debate that asked the question: “Is is okay for parents to upload a video of their child on You Tube?” over 1,000 people responded; 63% responded no, only 37% responded yes (Mom Debate).
The ever popular “David After Dentist” video is roughly a two minute clip of 7 year old David DeVore in his father’s car after a minor oral surgery before the drugs had fully wore off. The adorable little boy has charmed millions of viewers from his slightly out of it state. The video was originally taken as a means for David’s father to send to his wife to assure her that David was okay after his surgery. But once it was uploaded to You Tube, a debate began over where the line is drawn between entertainment and exploitation. This video is so popular it has received over 57 million views (Belkin). Because of the popularity of the video, it is sure to follow poor David into puberty and probably the rest of his life. David’s father has recently quit his job to market T-shirts and bumper stickers with the trademarked question “Is this real life?” (Belkin). Whether this is setting a responsible example of parenting or not is up for questioning. In an interview with CNET, David’s father, also named David stated, "The fact that I even taped it at all was really because of David's personality. If he were a sensitive child or was embarrassed easily or didn't see the humor in things, I wouldn't have taped it from the beginning” (Kids on You Tube). Yet, no one can predict how other people will perceive the video or if it will haunt poor David later on in his life.
By far one of the most personally disturbing videos I came across in my research was one in which young children performed a scene from Scarface. It was originally posted with the description being an elementary school play of the “Say hello to my little friend.” machine gun scene, but later it was admitted that these were child actors hired by director, Marc Klasfeld. The children were specifically selected by a casting agency that is known for finding child look-a-likes for adult stars (Elementary School). There were a few minor changes in the script. The machine guns were replaced with plastic ones, the cocaine was replaced with a pile of popcorn and a particular four letter word was replaced with “fudge”. The video has over 3 million views (Belkin). The fact that the children were paid actors doesn’t change the fact that the things they are doing and saying in the clip are inappropriate for their age group. I was personally disgusted. To me, this felt like abuse, it isn’t healthy for children their age to be exposed to that type of graphic violence and language. In the interview with CNET, even DeVore said "I respect the creativity and how the guy went about it and all that and the fact that these were child actors maybe toned it down a bit for me, but it still kind of makes me cringe a little bit," when referring to the Scarface video (Kids on You Tube). What negative effects could these actions and words have on the children’s lives now, or as they continue to mature? Only time will tell, but my gut feeling tells me that it won’t be good.
The fact is that we won’t know the effects You Tube has on children until the generation matures and we see for ourselves. It is kind of a scary concept to consider. We won’t know how much of an effect it has until it will be too late. It is the parent’s job to make decisions for their children. Maybe the next decision should be to not put that video online and keep it private.
--Emily Potter
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