Social media has been a growing source of income for families, teens and many adults.
One of the most popular ways to utilize your platform is vlogging; essentially videoing parts of your day and showing your life to the world. Many families gravitate toward vlogging, which can be a curse and a blessing.
Being a current subscriber to many family vlogging channels, I enjoy seeing other peoples lifestyles from all over the world. A positive to family vlogging channels is that all ages are shown through many different types of families, whether that is young kids, teens or beyond. But, one thing we as viewers never take into account is what is going on behind the scenes of these channels, is everything truly shown to us?
After the recent exploitation of the horrific physical and mental abuse that went on in the family channel “The 8 Passengers,” many viewers are starting to question all family vloggers’ morals. Ruby Franke, the mother this channel was sentenced to up to 30 years in prison due to years of unchecked child abuse. This has brought up an essential question whether family vlogging should even be legal?
States such as California have passed a law requiring parents to give a portion of their income from YouTube, to their children in their videos. This law is definitely a step in the right direction for more restrictions on vlogging, but not nearly enough has been done yet.
It is unrealistic to completely ban these channels, but making strict laws regarding it could save many lives of children who are being abused due to it. Restricting minors to be recorded until they truly understand the concept of what family vlogging is would be very beneficial. Having some sort of safe space for children to go to if they need someone to help them would also limit the risk of unchecked child abuse. But more importantly, Child Protective Services (CPS) needs to be held more accountable. In the “8 Passengers” case, CPS received many complaints about Ruby Franke, but told people they were not able to do much; then when they tried to help it was too late.
Even though family vlogging channels is something I enjoy, I think protecting all of the minors’ lives that are negatively affected by it is far more important. More laws need to be enacted regarding the topic and many of these families need to be more closely investigated so cases, such as Ruby Franke’s, can be avoided.
