Why do children and adolescents massively dream of becoming famous bloggers?
While the adult generation continues to watch TV out of habit, their children find information and entertainment content on the Internet. This is neither good nor bad, just for children and teenagers on TV there is too little interesting for them. In addition, if before it was necessary to go through some unthinkable filters, selections, castings in order to get on the screen, today you can become popular by starting to shoot your blog yourself, becoming famous just by using your smartphone’s camera. Let's be honest and admit that many dream of their “minute of glory."
And as it turned out, you can monetize your popularity on the Internet, those who start making money. In fairness, it’s worth saying that it’s far from money that motivates young people to become bloggers, but a natural desire to be creative, to receive social approval from subscribers (notorious likes), in the end, curiosity.
I do not think that the percentage of children who dream of becoming a popular blogger is more than the percentage of adults who dream of fame and popularity. They are on the same level.
What is the situation fraught with when a young man, inspired by examples of successful peers, takes up blogging, promoting pages on the Internet, but fails?
Everyone knows the saying how difficult it is to pass three tests: fire, water and copper pipes. So, copper pipes are a test of glory. Many adults, held personalities are not able to overcome this test, what can we say about the fragile psyche of a child and adolescent. Popularity and fame intoxicating, it seems that everything is within reach, right there and fast big money. How to resist this?
Did you know that the researchers tried to trace the life path of adults who suddenly got big lottery winnings? The vast majority of the story ended sadly and did not bring good changes in their lives. They felt more miserable after winning than before.
You could also hear sad stories about children who suddenly became popular and rich, and how subsequently they ended poorly. These are the stories of young film actors, musicians and singers.
Some parents themselves are not averse to exploiting their children in order to earn money, becoming their managers. Similar situations are observed among young bloggers, behind whose backs are their parents. Children run children's channels, while adults are actively engaged in this.
Why is this happening? People are not ready, he did not develop his skills, his thinking, did not encounter obstacles, so they could not take advantage of the chance that fell on them.In addition, anyone who has encountered popularity knows that there will always be a certain percentage of dissatisfied people, they are called “haters” on the Internet. And the higher the popularity, the more haters and the more aggressive their actions. To the extent that the "stars" are forced to protect their lives, hire security and seek help from law enforcement agencies.
Here, adults cannot emotionally cope with such behavior towards themselves, to say nothing of children, especially in an anonymous Internet environment. Particularly susceptible here are quickly "pecked", dragging and "troll", spreading false information, and just dirty.
Any mistake, any wrong step by the blogger can lead to the opposite effect, to dislikes, unsubscribe and loss of popularity. The public on the Internet is more demanding, nothing is forgiven, and "all moves are recorded" in Google’s cache.
And here, as in real life: tens, hundreds of thousands begin, and only a few achieve success. Schools and families are not taught to cope with failures. Therefore, failure can "break" people, lose faith in their strengths and abilities, lead to depression and disappointment.
How does a person change when he begins to feel an abundance of “easy” money?
We all live in the illusion that success is exceptionally easy money. And the fact that this is sometimes hard work, a lot of searches, creativity, search - few people think. We can easily count money in someone else’s pocket, but we don’t pay attention to our own. If it were so easy, then what is stopping you from doing all this? What prevents to create something interesting, useful, demanded, while worthy and profitable?
Yes, just talking all sorts of nonsense on the camera may not be quite difficult, but it is unlikely to become really popular. People want to watch quality content that is complex, interesting, original, and unlike anything else. Sometimes, to create an hourly video, some bloggers may take several weeks to work. But even this is not a guarantee of success and good offers of advertisers. Sometimes their channels are developed for months and years, until they are seriously noticed and appreciated.
The viewer on the Internet is demanding, so he immediately sees when a blogger is doing something out of personal interest, and when for the sake of money. It will not be possible to deceive him (the viewer) for a long time.
And the earnings on the Internet from viewing blogs are tied exclusively to cooperation with advertisers and sponsors. Not every sponsor will be interested in a particular blogger, not every sponsor will be positively received by the audience of this blogger. This is a fine line, so the rumors of fabulous earnings, to put it mildly, are exaggerated.
In addition, one must always remember that fame, as it comes, goes. In the end, you might just get bored doing this on a regular basis. And there are such examples, too, when bloggers closed their multi-million-dollar channels and went into “nonexistence”.
We all strive for our work to bring us pleasure. I want to do what I love, creativity, and so that it brings a decent income. Why do you think children are different? Blogging in this regard is neither worse nor better. It’s just a new phenomenon where young people are more successful than people with life experience, because they think as young, feel like young, they live it. At the same time, there are plenty of examples when already held, popular and successful people try to win love on the Internet, and they do it badly. And you say easy money.
Popularity satisfies a hierarchical instinct.
Humans are social creatures that, over millions of years of evolution, have adapted to survive in packs. This skill of living in a pack was vital for a single individual. Occupying a specific place in the pack, we simultaneously provide ourselves with the best conditions for survival. This is an instinct on a biological level.Do not believe? Observe the children who are constantly competing with each other. What for? To win! To take the top position in your group.
How does this relate to bloggers?
In today's information environment, the number of followers and likes is identical to supporters. If you want, this is a way of “social grooming”. I got approval, I got a like or subscription, it means I climbed up the social ladder, so you become a “leader of opinions” (as bloggers christened themselves). In addition to the possibilities of monetization due to advertising integrations, this in itself is a powerful emotional stimulus that turns heads and pushes to reckless actions. But popularity is quickly passing, the chances to stumble are growing, the need to surprise and entertain pushes for rash actions. At best, they will forget you, at worst, yesterday’s supporters will become haters.
If in the pre-information era, to be known and popular, you had to do something meaningful, or to become an artist and get on the big screen, go through fierce competition, overcome a lot of obstacles, make efforts, today YouTube creates the illusion that it’s enough to upload the video to channel, and you're already popular.
What advice can be given to parents whose children want to blog?
Try not to criticize immediately, but to delve into what your child is doing and interested in. Support him in this endeavor. Share information that may be useful to him. After all, who knows, perhaps this hobby will pass over time, or grow into his “profession”.
But in 99% of cases, this will end with nothing - a few videos shot, a couple of likes from friends and trolling from non-names. Everything is as in life! Someone will succeed, but most will stop at the beginning of the path, or by taking the first steps.