Post Awd0gnaiYovfF8hbxQ by xinit@mastodon.coffee
(DIR) More posts by xinit@mastodon.coffee
(DIR) Post #AwbB5DHRJMp15l2tTU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-28T17:13:04Z
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All the time I was a kid I thought that the things I knew about Kate Moss were just about selling me bluejeans. The "teen-aged supermodel sensation" functioned a bit like a real-life Cinderella story for little girls in the 90s. When I was in middle school everyone wanted to be just like Kate Moss.To hear tell it? It was not such a romanic journey. And in many ways her story is a best case scenario. Because by cultivating that desire it could be exploited. Is this still going on?
(DIR) Post #AwbBASRyKzM9aXTOVs by aram@aoir.social
2025-07-28T17:13:58Z
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@futurebird With respect, have you looked at TikTok or Instagram lately?
(DIR) Post #AwbBYwJyvevxBLPRoG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-28T17:18:27Z
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@aram What on tiktok functions in the same way?And why tiktok in particular?
(DIR) Post #AwbBeyavOEi7yCDG8u by kims@mas.to
2025-07-28T17:19:30Z
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@futurebird Spending four years in school with Brooke Shields at the peak of her Calvin Klein fame made it clear that there was NOTHING appealing about being Brooke ShieldsEvery day there were strange men walking onto campus trying to bring her flowers or jewelry or marriage proposals. When we were teenagers
(DIR) Post #AwbBv6uKFaPcNwysDY by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-28T17:22:27Z
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@kims There have been massive efforts to address the issue of teens working in fashion, and I'm just remembering how in the 90s if someone, often an older model would speak out you'd have panels on TV with people rolling their eyes. "No, we can't show the clothing properly unless it is worn by children! Only they can make the folds hang right."Something along that lines is seared into my mind because AS A CHILD I didn't know if I should believe it or not.And now it's seems so obvious.
(DIR) Post #AwbCDOg0vKlchx0SLg by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-28T17:25:44Z
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@goaty I feel like we've had more examples of influencers exploiting their young fans than being exploited themselves. But another area that needs attention are "family channels" where parents make their kids into content often at the expense of their mental health and education and with very little oversight beyond whatever their emotionally entangled parasocially fixated audience thinks. Seems like it should be covered by child labor.Things are a bit better for young actors. A bit.
(DIR) Post #AwbCOHh5E3hCEjhLEG by aram@aoir.social
2025-07-28T17:27:42Z
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@futurebird Both platforms are economically sustained by teen/young adult beauty and fashion influencers. In addition to selling product, they are also selling a narrative about how you can become rich and famous selling product. It’s like MLM Kate Moss. I have a 15-yo (who is not into these narratives at all) but who routinely reports to me how high school culture, esp among young women, is completely shaped by these aspirational narratives.
(DIR) Post #AwbCcTixIK4dbNLGK0 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-28T17:30:17Z
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@goaty Maybe I'm turning into a conspiracy theory nut but I think the huge media profile of the *concept* of "teen-aged supermodel sensation" was a myth pushed to the front in part by men who saw it as an ... uh "industry" they could use to take advantage of young women without consequences. At some point saying you "ran a modeling agency" became such a red flag it was a joke.
(DIR) Post #AwbD89VO0GC6A269qK by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-28T17:35:55Z
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@goaty Some of the recent coverage of these scandals brings this all back to mind. "Oh he ran a modeling agency. Wow. He must be so interested in ... fashion!"To me that's a ten foot high neon sign.
(DIR) Post #AwbFh5RXIWBlbe5Dv6 by afewbugs@social.coop
2025-07-28T18:04:40Z
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@futurebird a friend of mine was a part time model to fund herself through university and that cured me of any idea I may have had that modelling was glamorous. It seemed to involve huge amounts of travelling at very short notice to be put in stupid clothes if you were lucky and told you were too fat, old, ugly or all of the above and then not paid for your time if you weren't
(DIR) Post #AwczZrYTKDb3YUmT4q by GinevraCat@toot.community
2025-07-29T14:13:31Z
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@futurebird @goaty There is some movement in the Netherlands to try to regulate this.
(DIR) Post #Awd0Q4VYPZdCmpJLRA by dx@social.ridetrans.it
2025-07-29T14:22:55Z
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@futurebird Whenever I see a produced video where children are the content/presenters, I nope out of there. I don’t want to give money to incentivize monetizing your children.
(DIR) Post #Awd0gnaiYovfF8hbxQ by xinit@mastodon.coffee
2025-07-29T14:26:00Z
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@futurebird I asked my kid when he was 6 or 7 - "Does it look look he's having fun?" when a Ryan's World video came up. The sterile, empty house, the mother off screen but pushing him to have fun with something he obviously didn't want to play with. The Family channels never got play here after that. Thankfully. @goaty
(DIR) Post #Awd0mFh7V6srqsIUrY by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-29T14:27:00Z
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@xinit @goaty Please do not "monetize" your children. shouldn't be a big ask ... and yet.
(DIR) Post #Awd1GG1epkUXZCDA6i by amanda@an.errant.cloud
2025-07-29T14:32:21Z
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@futurebird @goaty there was a really good Atlantic (I think?) story about a custody dispute that turned on a teen "real world" YT show.
(DIR) Post #Awd1rtBwB9wTkfxoX2 by amanda@an.errant.cloud
2025-07-29T14:34:29Z
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@dx @futurebird I can't even figure out how to explain to my teenager how influencers make money. I just sound like my dad trying to tell teenage me that Band Aid was a PR stunt.
(DIR) Post #Awd1rtvJSSEq1PC3G4 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-29T14:39:11Z
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@amanda @dx Which influencers do they like?Have you tried watching something they like with them?I always recommend that parents engage with media *with* their child and be open minded. Also, the communities that form around these things *could* contain your child's *best friend* and yeah... know who your kid's best friends are.Often it's harmless even positive. It's another kid of a similar age and they chat on discord. Keep the lines open.Sorry for going on a paranoid teacher rant.
(DIR) Post #Awd2M7OTwJTUUGFIGG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-29T14:44:43Z
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@amanda @dx I realize I went off on a tangent not really related to what you are saying and now I'm worried it sounded critical. I guess I'm just hyped up about how I've seen parents push their kids away by condemning things they care about (sometimes for good reasons, other times for no reason) and then the child isolates off into these online spaces that vary a great deal in how safe they may be. So I'm always ready to lecture about how if your kid likes something there is a reason.
(DIR) Post #Awd3pK0wCFk9ypiqAq by amanda@an.errant.cloud
2025-07-29T15:01:09Z
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@futurebird @dx I can't watch with him, but I do try to have open conversations about the stories he brings to the table. (And when I realize I sound like my dad, I stop talking.) That's where at least explaining influencer economics comes in. He's telling me that he sees all these guys on social media who are "like, goated" and he wants to follow their advice.
(DIR) Post #Awd45yowFMw5Al3LO4 by amanda@an.errant.cloud
2025-07-29T15:04:08Z
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@futurebird @dx fun weird detail, he's former foster youth, which makes him eligible for a free phone program with unlimited data. I registered him for the program so he could get his phone right on his birthday. He was going to get it anyway so I figured it made sense to make it part of his birthday. But they send these phones out with ZERO guidance or parental controls. None. Just like "here! Unlimited data! Be sure to use a phone case."
(DIR) Post #Awd4GiE6HfC6tMwKQq by btuftin@social.coop
2025-07-29T15:06:05Z
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@futurebird @goaty Coincidentally the comedy show Smartypants had a presentation in this week's episode highlighting some weaknesses in child actor regulations.https://bsky.app/profile/smartypantsshow.bsky.social/post/3luuzyx5krh2e(Smartypants presentations range wildly from the poignant to the nonsensical.)