6, 7, 8, 9, 3, 2, 1.
Hi, this is Ellie from Emerson School in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Thank you for listening to the Eagles View Presents.
This week we will be discussing should kids be able to make money as influencers, because it sounds like a great topic.
We hope you enjoyed the Eagles View Presents this week.
Here are this week's panelists.
I'm Ellie.
I'm Emile.
I'm Evie.
Angela.
Jacob.
Thea.
And Emma.
Oh yeah.
Okay, so who wants to start?
I'm gonna start.
So I think that kids should, um probably have a chance to be influencers.
However, there should probably be some boundaries, like set by their parents, about what they can share, and also like probably some safety, like like I don't know, like maybe like they could be on um.
I don't know if this is a thing, but uh.
Kids version of, like, Instagram or something.
It's like YouTube Kids?
Yeah.
What'd you say, Angela?
But, like, a really safe website for kids.
Like YouTube Kids?
Yeah.
Meant for ages 8 and young.
Isn't YouTube Kids, like, a terrible...
Yeah, they don't really do a... Don't they not block anything and it's, like, really bad?
I heard they don't do a great job.
But, I mean, it's mostly childish stuff, so I guess that's good.
Yeah.
Okay.
I feel, I feel like I don't think that home kids should be making money off a bit because it's Because I feel like it can get pretty exploitative because, like once the parents like I'm not saying that all parents are like this, but like sometimes, like once the parents realize like oh, I'm making money from this, they like kind of rely on like what the kid is, like the kid's like channel to like make a living for the family.
Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
Honestly, i feel like child abuse like yeah, and like you're too young to have a full-on like job.
You know like you can make videos for fun if your parents allow it and if it's like on a safe platform, but you know, i feel like making money is just a bit over the line and um, i think that, adding on to what angela said, Making money online, especially as a kid, it's usually not worth it.
For what you're trying to go for.
I don't think that, if you're trying to be an influencer, that's going to work out very well.
Because again, adding on to what Angela said, your parents would probably or like some kind of adult supervision, would probably not.
Um, what was I going to say?
Oh yeah, they.
It's probably not the best idea because your parents are going to eventually get kind of greedy in most scenarios and in most scenarios, how that ends up working is.
I don't mean to like call it out or anything, but I heard like Ryan story reviews like it's an example of how like essentially, the parents of the children have basically used them for the clout and for the channel to kind of Like.
This is the example for Ryan on YouTube.
They have used him to kind of boost, like, for their gain, you know?
I don't...
Yeah, I think, like I just want to say I remember one time I heard on a random radio station my parents were listening to that there was this, I guess, 16-year-old girl, who's her.
They forced her to go on the internet to do God knows what.
I don't remember what videos they were, but she was doing something and making like like something like a thousand, a few thousand dollars a day and then she like didn't get any schooling and she like stopped at third grade or something and she had no education and it was like really terrible.
And then they were talking about it.
So i just i don't know.
I thought that yeah, that's interesting.
Um yeah, i think that this has definitely like child influencing has definitely made an incline in the past decade.
Um, and i i actually watched a documentary about this once, but a lot of like kids are being exploited and since influencing isn't like legally or like society and law hasn't really quite decided if it's like a job, yet it's kind of coming into the gray area of like child labor laws and A lot of parents are like using their kids just to make money.
The kids are, like, forced to make so many videos.
And the kids don't get paid for it.
They're doing all the work.
The kids don't get paid for it.
And there's a lot of pressure on them to kind of sustain their family, like a lot of people said.
And, yeah, and so I feel like kids should get, like, paid or at least they should get like influencing should be recognized by the law like at a certain point when you're popular enough it should be like I feel like it should be considered a job so that kids don't get like abused for their work or exploited exploited yeah yeah and I feel like just like being in that kind of like field as like someone so young like you know I've seen videos of kids who were like seven years old like oh let's play with slime like i feel like that's just like let kids be kids you know like i get it like um some of the stuff that they do in videos is like childlike stuff But also, it doesn't need to be showcased on the internet.
Because, first of all, the internet is an unsafe place.
Anybody can watch this video.
The example that Emil gave the girl that lost her education due to the internet and her pursuit of her channel or whatever.
It can be pretty detrimental to their social life and their academic life and stuff like that.
And even if they're not being exploited, I feel like there should definitely be a limit that the parents should set further.
Fame at a young age can also, even if you are getting the money, become the problem itself.
Because...
The problem with being that famous at such a young age.
If it does work out for you will actually and usually does lead to.
Is that the fire alarm?
Usually does and would continue to lead to problems later on in life that the kids will go through, because they will have to grow up with that kind of lifestyle.
And maturing with fans, if you're like really famous is difficult for kids.
Because i know and i'm making like references like there's a channel that i used to watch all the time when i was a kid um, sis versus bro and um.
I know that, like when i was like a toddler or something i don't know, i was like Watching them and I was like, oh cool, they're doing like these, like cool little challenge videos.
And now they're all grown up and they barely do anything with each other because you know they're adults.
Yeah, the factor of, like, being kids got removed.
They hate each other now.
I think Emma wanted to say something.
So I think that kids should be allowed to as long as, like, it's only if they really want to do it.
But I don't know if they should make money until they're like 16 or something, because there's definitely a factor of like the parents want the money from the kids, like making this content and like sometimes that's a really bad thing because the parents will like constantly make kids like make videos, and then it'll lead to burnout and the kids are like oh, i don't want to do this anymore because of how much i've already done it.
I want to do something else and like it's like hard to move on from that because you've had such a big like yeah, and like their parents won't let them like do something else because they're like oh, you're making good money off of this.
But that's not every case like, but like obviously there's some cases that are like that.
So, adding on to what Emma said, I think if like probably, a teenager would want to make money um, they'd probably have to um get some independence in this, like they should probably set like a boundary with their parents.
Like half the money they get goes into their um bank account, and definitely like a percentage, because sometimes the kids do more work than the adults.
Yeah like, if the adults do some work, maybe they give their parents like 10 percent.
The parents have access to their bank accounts.
It's not not necessarily, not necessarily.
Well, i mean my, my parents definitely do.
Yeah yeah, you can lie about your age.
Don't do that, though.
Don't do that.
I feel like um, that kids should, like they should the influencer should evaluate how much of the work is actually being done by the kids versus the adults.
I know a lot of the times the adults edit the videos.
So i feel like, in most cases, 70 30 would work, where 70 goes to the kids, because they are the actual like models and joy characters in the video.
Joy characters in the video, people watching, like that's, that's what they get.
Joy watching.
They are the figures and the representation of the channel.
So i feel like they should deserve more than the parents and, especially if it's the parents choice that they do this, they should definitely get more compensation than the parents.
Um, so okay, um.
I actually fully agree with what Emma said, because I've always wanted a channel for my cat, for like, so it sounds so random, but like.
For so long I've wanted a channel um of my cat that just like, just like pictures of her which, of course, is not gonna make money at all um, but like, It's okay, Angela.
I think as long as you're not making fluent income, it should be fine.
I feel like, as I kind of said earlier, I feel like kids these days just want to be kids because you know, like some influencers like that grew up like on the internet, just like posting a bunch of random stuff.
They didn't get.
Yeah, they just spent their whole like just showcasing like everything on the internet and just not really having any time for themselves.
And I feel like, if you, there's nothing wrong with like having a channel, as long as like it's like safe, I guess, and like your parents are like fine with it, but I feel like they shouldn't see, like the kids shouldn't like treat their like channel as like a money making thing, just like as a fun hobby that sometimes gets you a couple cents yeah, or maybe more than a couple cents, but there's also maybe, but I feel like that shouldn't be the main focus.
It's also like there's a lot of societal pressure on like younger girls, and Even boys too, these days, where it's like they have to grow up a lot faster because of like how prominent the Internet is.
And it like shows like kids your age who are like fully like dressed up, wearing makeup.
And you're like, oh, is that what I'm supposed to be doing?
Maybe I should do that.
But in reality you should just be able to do whatever you think you want to do and not like succumb to society's pressures like this.
But like, yes, like because of like because of like the amount of social media.
Like little girls see these like people and they're like oh, I want to look like them, even if they're like 20-year-old models.
Yeah.
Yeah, well, boys, too.
Yeah.
It just might be more prominent for girls.
Yeah.
At least it's been going on.
It's been like it's been going on longer.
For yeah, women people just want to be what they see like happens, because those are their only like role models.
Yeah well, those are the only people that they grow up watching, they grow up like paying attention to, like oh, i should be like them.
They're popular.
Yeah, but then two people versus like thousands of people on the internet that just seems like the norm for them that they want to like fit into that.
Yeah, but in like real life, you should just be you like don't listen to the internet, even if it like gets like really like tempting, like only be you.
And if you want to be like like someone who's on the internet but like but you weren't influenced by the internet, then go ahead.
Oh, Emil.
I feel like a lot of this kind of fluctuated.
Yeah, it got kind of worse during COVID when kids just were, you know, trapped at home and never saw their friends and didn't really see sunlight.
They saw their friends online.
Well, the internet was much more used, I think what you're saying.
Yeah, um.
Well yeah they, they looked at like me during the covid oh age.
I was a ipad kid and i spent much of my time on my ipad looking at that kid i don't even know but um, it influenced me.
Um, i think and i just feel this has gotten kind of worse since covet because there were kids like me who had nothing more to do and they were extremely.
I started a youtube channel.
Yeah, a lot of yeah, people played more games and just watched more youtube to keep themselves busy and got influenced by ryan's world and makeup.
Asmr, you know, i need to be like that.
So, in conclusion, what do we think?
I think they should be allowed to as long as they're not making money.
I feel like... but i i feel like should kids be allowed to make money i feel like they're like childhood trends solely revolve around just their pursuit of social media and still have like you know they're just a normal childhood but like if it's safe for them if the parents are okay with it then you know i guess it's okay to post something every once in a while but don't make it your whole your whole childhood yeah and i think that age 100 matters in this because like if it's a baby then what can you do but like if it's like a seven-year-old then maybe it's like they i don't think that they should be making money because of like the dominance of greed in like like everyone is greedy about something right yeah everyone wants something and they will do almost everything for something yeah and like these I feel like at 16 they should be able to start making money, but any younger, I feel like they shouldn't.
I agree.
Along with that, we should definitely try to make a decision on whether influencing is a job or not.
Or at a certain point is it a job because there are kids being exploited out there.
Because the law doesn't consider influencing a job, so it is considered to some extent child labor.
I think that after you make minimum wage in your state, that's the job.
So after you're making like 1725 an hour with like how much you work then, because 1725 is the minimum wage in Michigan.
That is not the minimum wage.
Yes, it is.
$14.95.
No, it's $17.25 per hour.
No.
Well, then.
You guys can look that up.
I will look it up.
I'll be right.
And for kids our age, it's $4.
I'll be right.
You'll be wrong.
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