Diary Adventures of LagosMums: DALM | Mum I want to be a YouTuber
“I heard your son wants to be a YouTuber” a mum said to me in school the other day. While I was slightly surprised, I was also not very surprised because I know he loves watching certain people on YouTube. Growing up I wanted to be everything from a teacher, to owning a magazine to being an actuary and at one time being an asset manager etc. My mum did suggest I study law because I liked to talk so much and she kind of wished she had studied law. She thought their legal outfits were so cool. Anyway I digress, this is not about my career choices.
Why do you want to be a YouTuber?
There are so many jobs today that we did not have even 5 or 10 years ago! Actually I myself an an example of this! I am a blogger and a digital media marketing consultant – these are jobs we didn’t have when I was in college! I struck up a conversation with the budding YouTuber. He said indeed he wants to be a YouTuber. So we had a conversation about his favorite YouTubers and also discussed what he would be sharing on YouTube. He shared his “strategy” and I was just amazed! Did I mention he is not even 10 yet?
Careers on platforms you don’t control
Is it safe to base your career aspirations on a platform you do not control? Vine was a video sharing platform that got acquired and then shutdown. I heard of some people who built successful careers on vine. However, when the platform shut down; they lost all their followers with no way to continue to monetize. I am not suggesting that YouTube might shut down but we just never really know right? In my case there are certain platforms I got used to as a blogger; and after they got acquired they were discontinued e.g. Klout, Polyvore etc.
How Are We Preparing Our Children for the future
As a parent of a millennial or generation zér, we are probably dealing with the fastest changing time to date in humanity. Am I just being dramatic or is it true? children today have answers and more information at their finger tips that their fore father could assess in a lifetime.
[Tweet “children today are connected to the whole world”]
They are connected to the whole world at a touch of a button, this generation is trigger happy! Yeup they share information online based on how they feel. If they are happy, they share a selfie with dog ear filters; if they are sad? they share a photo with a sad face emoji. We need to ensure they understand the pros and cons of their digital footprint and what they share online. I remember when reality shows were the most shocking type of programming online! Now that seems like child’s play in a world where people share anything and everything online. Back to YouTube, I have now started paying attention to his favorite YouTubers. I want to know what they are sharing and understand what he finds fascinating. The truth about parenting today, is that we need to be flexible and really communicate with our children. Till this week I thought we were doing great with screen time control. This is because we don’t watch television during the week. I got the surprise of my life when both my children told me they do not even miss TV. See according to them YouTube gives them everything they need – television and more. “TV is boring” they informed me. Well then;Â there goes the idea that TV is a treat kept for the weekend. 
Screen Time culture
Recently I posted on Instagram about the importance of monitoring and limiting screen time for toddlers. A parent sent a comment asking us to stop the scare tactics and insisted that the kids will be fine. I did not feel like flogging the issue or painting the real picture of what too much screen time looks like. It is important not to forget the tech millionaires in silicon valley who do not let their children use screen time. Nor can I fail to mention the parents who have wish they never gave their pre-teens smart phones because they are now addicted. Anything in excess is bad, especially something setup to be addictive. Do you know what your child is interested in? Instead of asking “what do you want to be when you grow up” we should be asking “what are you interested in and why?” This will give much more insight to their evolving interests. Industries are changing faster than we can blink and jobs we never heard of are being created. The jobs we always thought were safe are disappearing. aka robots are taking over accounting functions. Some that seem unheard of such as ethical hacking is an actual job; and oh lets not forget highly paid YouTubers. Ryan, is this years highest YouTube earner, at only 8 years old he is a millionaire; and his job description? Reviewing toys on You Tube. In case you are wondering, a YouTuber is also known as a YouTube personality, YouTube celebrity, or YouTube Content Creator is a type of internet celebrity and videographer who has gained popularity from their videos on the video-sharing website, . (Wikipedia) What do you think? I should let him pursue his passion? [Read: Diary Adventures of LagosMums]
