Teen Stardom Taking on a Whole New Approach

YouTube is one of the most used sites to date. I go to it at least five times a day and the number of videos being posted a day is unreal. It is a site that has brought joy, tears, and anger. But most profoundly, it has brought fame to the unlikeliest of people. I am speaking specifically to children. I cannot even begin to fathom the amount of videos on YouTube that star a little kid. These videos are some of my favorite ones. A few examples are:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thq0mI4JVg8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n9YslsI4CU&feature=related

These videos never fail to bring a smile to my face.

But there is something much bigger happening when videos such as these ones are posted on the internet. First, it is contributing to the media's glamorization of children. America LOVES little kids. From shows such as "Toddler and Tiaras" to dedicating specific sections in magazines to celebrity babies, our society cannot get enough of children. Their innocence is completely mesmerizing and I am sure some of the obsession has to do with adults yearning for their leisure lives. Exploiting children in these means has also given parents way too much entitlement. Since I have three younger sisters ranging from the ages of two to thirteen, I am constantly either seeing or hearing about parents boasting about something magnificent their child did or does. This can be related back to the YouTube videos. Almost all of the little kid videos are parents way of saying "Look! Look at how cute my baby is!!" Okay, parents. Yes, most of the time these babies are too precious for words. HOWEVER. As you can see on YouTube, you can find fifteen other babies singing Train. The reason why I extend a warning to parents is not only because I want their egos to be minimized but I also want them to realize this could really damage their child. By constantly putting a camera in their face, you are instilling in the child that they are the center of attention. The spotlight is always on them. By doing this, you run a very thin line of rearing a child who constantly needs attention and positive feedback. It definitely does not prepare them for the real world. Though a child dancing to "The Whisper Song" is way cuter and not as creepy as a thirty year old man doing it, our society needs to be careful with the amount of attention and exploitation these kids endure.