Ryan Kaji, 9, earns $29.5m as this year's highest-paid YouTuber
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
- It raises complex ethical questions, both about monetizing children in the media, and about advertainment targeted at children who are too young to understand they're being sold to.
- It maybe demonstrates the filter-bubble in a stark way. I watch stuff on youtube a lot, but I've never heard of this kid (or really almost anyone on the top 10 list at the bottom of the article).
- It's crazy that a child can make this much money.
Britney spears, harry potter dude, emma watson and every child actor was normal but this is abnormal exactly how?
This make me think of the case of Jake Lloyd.
> Burroughs said he became interested in the child influencer phenomenon after his own kids asked him to do the things that Ryan’s family was doing. “I thought, ‘Oh, there’s something going on here if my kids are expecting our family to look like Ryan’s family.’ In Ryan’s family, they’re able to constantly consume content and products. They’re opening up a new toy every day, and subsequently playing with that new toy every day, so there’s this constant consumerism that’s being embedded within these messages for children.”
These videos go beyond trying to get a child to want X product - they're warping their perception of reality.
As for the consumerism: Yeah, it's absolutely blatant, but so is much of the media content for children in general. Ryan videos are a good teachable moment to discuss this (What do you think happens with all the toys the next day? etc.)