I've finally banned my 9- and 10-year-olds from watching Rebecca Zamolo, Brianna & Preston, Mr Beast, Ninja Kids and Salish & Jordan, Like Nastya and any other loud, shouty American you tube esque programme.
Whenever they watch this stuff, their behaviour is noticeably worse afterwards. They become more demanding, more argumentative, more whiney and melt downs are much more epic (there is SEN involved).
The thing is, I know I'm not alone and its not restricted to SEN children. Plenty of parents seem to have come to the same conclusion and either heavily restrict or ban these channels altogether.
And before anyone says "just get rid of YouTube", the problem is that this style of content isn't confined to YouTube anymore. It's all over Prime and Netflix too, so it's become much harder to avoid.
What I genuinely don't understand is who is watching these programmes and thinking they're a positive influence on children. They're enormously popular, so there must be parents who either like them or at least don't see a problem with them. If that's you, what am I missing? What are the children getting from them?
And as for the creators themselves, do you think they ever stop and think about the influence they have? The constant shouting, fake drama, endless challenges, consumerism and "main character" behaviour can't be doing children many favours. Or do they simply see themselves as entertainers and feel no responsibility for the effect their content has on young viewers? I know some of them are paretns so surely they must have an idea of what they're inflicting on others?
Interested to hear from people who like them because I genuinely can't see the appeal and I really hope my children will grow out of them soon!