BERLIN: If you ask primary school pupils these days what they want to be when they grow up, they tend to name two occupations with particular frequency: professional footballer and social media influencer.
The latter actually isn't surprising given many kids' love of dressing up, performing before an audience and trying out various roles. What's new, however, are the huge audiences and commercial opportunities enjoyed by top influencers on social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
How should parents react to this aspiration, perhaps having no idea who their child's role models and idols are and what it is exactly they do, namely promote products, services or a certain lifestyle to their followers through regular social media posts?
By no means should they dismiss it out of hand, advises Deborah Woldemichael, director of the European Union initiative klicksafe, which promotes online media literacy for children, young people, parents and teachers.
"You should try to understand what their motivation is," she says.
Does the child want to become famous, travel widely and experience exciting things? Or is their aim to get rich by doing what may appear to involve little work?
Parents can clear up misconceptions. While "social media influencer" isn't a formal occupation, many of the field's stars earn a good living. The necessary skills can be learned, for example via courses or training programmes involving social media, such as media designer, content creator or social media manager.
"Since the field is so fast-changing and the career difficult to control, it's much safer to have a profession or vocational training though," Woldemichael says.
Another misconception is that influencers make a lot of money quickly and easily. Many children and adolescents aren't able to appreciate just how much work goes into the videos and posts they see, and that the job has risks and drawbacks.
"Parents, together with their child, should take a look behind the scenes," advises Iren Schulz, media coach for a German social media education initiative aimed at families. Children can't imagine what it's like to spend childhood online – not now nor how it will be in the future, she says.
Information sources such as klicksafe can enlighten them.
Many influencers say their intensive social media presence stems from pressure to constantly produce new content and keep the competition at bay. Some are active on several platforms to garner as many followers as possible, providing various channels with content and having to conduct community management too.
This can lead to burnout, mental health problems or a distorted perception of reality due to disinformation. Another stress factor: While the videos used to be quite simple, today they're much more elaborate and require better equipment and technical know-how.
What alternatives can you suggest to your child? There are indeed ways to satisfy their creative impulses with similar activities in a protected, non-public environment.
"For primary school pupils, everything outside the internet is a protected space," says Woldemichael, as most social media platforms set a minimum age of 13 by default. Your child could invite friends over to take photos or shoot videos – which aren't published – of themselves dressing up, and "then show them to their grandparents," she suggests.
Producing video content under parental guidance strengthens children's media literacy. "You've got to acquaint children [with social media] in any case," she remarks. "They're growing up digitally, whether you like it or not."
WhatsApp can serve as a platform.
It's important the child's videos or photos not be shared on public platforms, since once on the internet, they're out of your control. WhatsApp is the service used most often by primary school children, Woldemichael says. The minimum age to register is 13 in most countries, and there are parent-managed accounts for pre-teens.
WhatsApp channels enable the private messaging app to function like a social media platform to a certain degree. Kids can create a channel for themselves, and while it can't be found via a search feature, they can send invite links to friends and gather followers that way.
Schulz recommends that children definitely use social media channels while growing up, but should be very careful about what they post, including personal information such as their real name, address or telephone number.
"Perhaps the focus can be on a hobby or product," she says. The content could appear on an adult-managed channel that only selected contacts have access to, is private and secure.
Of course the older kids become, the more they'll want to use social media as they see fit, Schulz remarks. "That's why it's so important to have a good rapport with them so they don't become secretly active and will confide in their parents if something goes wrong."
And quite a lot can go wrong. Parents should make the dark side of TikTok fame clear to them, such as hateful comments, bullying, suggestive comments from persons with sexual intentions, and sexual harassment. – dpa
