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Post by Michaela on Dec 10, 2013 1:33:52 GMT
I don't know if anyone has ever noticed this, but there is a whole host of videos on YouTube made my young girls around 7-10 years old asking if they are pretty or ugly. I've noticed a couple before, but then I just saw this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rOAAnYTuiw about the phenomenon and searched it and it is seriously sad how many of these there are. When did this become a thing? What the hell have we done to our children??? How many of these girls will grow up to develop eating disorders, depression, anxiety, self harm? It makes me sad to see this in girls so young, there is so much wrong with a society that makes children feel the need to ask this question. Thoughts? One slightly redeeming video to leave it on a slightly higher note (watch the whole thing): www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwFWPZdw0Xk
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2013 1:39:07 GMT
I'll watch this tomorrow, but it doesn't surprise me. I spent most of those years thinking I was ugly.
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Post by Michaela on Dec 10, 2013 1:47:08 GMT
I probably became conscious of it around that age too, but tbh I can't remember my childhood that well. They seem so young now though.
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Post by Kimberley on Dec 10, 2013 21:32:35 GMT
I haven't watched it but I have heard this topic cropping up on the news recently. It's such a shame.
I think it's very common to have "hang ups" about ourselves at that age, but the problem is (and I'm gonna sound really old here) that it's the society we live in today. Children are all of a sudden able to access YouTube/social media, and it's influencing the way they grow up. In some ways, it can obviously be good, but this is terrible, in my opinion. Where are there parents? What are they using to make these videos? Have they all got iPads and smartphones? If they have, why aren't there internet restrictions?
I'm only 22, so I did grow up with the internet really, if that makes sense, but even back when I was in school I would never have had this sort of internet access. I had hang ups about the way I looked, but that was the extent it reached, nothing more than that, because I didn't have the whole world sharing their judgement with me.
This breaks my heart, and I will aim to do everything I can to protect my future son/daughter from this. Everyone is beautiful.
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Post by Michaela on Dec 10, 2013 23:48:02 GMT
Exactly Kim, it's the dark side to all of the supposed advances in communication. We've grown up with the internet yes, but I can see a big difference even between me and my sister who is only four years younger than me. I didn't get a mobile until I went to secondary and it was your basic Nokia 3310! We had a family computer, which is obviously much safer and I got my own laptop when I was about 15, by which point I think most people are a bit more capable of looking after themselves online. Now you get 6 year olds with smartphones, ipads and all sorts. Kids shouldn't be able to plaster themselves all of the internet with clearly no restriction on what they are doing. And it's kinda off topic, but it's ironic that all this supposed advancement in communication just makes people feel more ostracized. Makes me sound ancient, but things were very different when I was a kid and it's a shame, we should stay innocent for as long as possible. Sure all this technological advancement is amazing and revolutionary, but at what cost? On a happy note, at least it enables the development of communities like MiLO xxx
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Post by lucyrob on Dec 11, 2013 14:13:21 GMT
It's horrible to think that children are more concerned with their looks than enjoying life and playing. It's such a shame to think that somewhere along the line we've let them down. I don't mean us specifically, but I mean their elders in general. We've allowed our younger people to be too caught up in body image and how they are perceived instead of giving them an outlet and safe place to be themselves and grow to who they want to be, not who they think they should be.
I could go on!
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Post by mia on Dec 11, 2013 18:27:41 GMT
This is really sad, unfortunately I think it's the technological age making everything more accessible. I've always had hang ups about how I look, and it is around that age where people start experimenting with hair/fashion and slowly start developing physically that you become aware of it. The difference now is we have the means to share everything, for young people today, the minute they have a thought it's published to some sort of social media, which can be quite dangerous. People don't really understand boundaries anymore, or privacy. And the fact that we are young ourselves but can speak about it in behind way just shows how fast it has all developed. It goes faster than people know how to deal with and so children just get swept up in it. But like it's been mentioned, things like milo is truly what the Internet is intended for, so we can be thankful we're creating less of a dark corner of the online world
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Post by Nick with OCD on Dec 11, 2013 18:55:57 GMT
It's shocking that this can happen. Do parents of kids that age not think it wise to monitor internet, smartphone use etc?
Things like this are why eating disorders and other mental health issues start.
I think I'm ugly but wouldn't do anything like this. Plus at those ages it opens up a whole new can of worms for trolls and other nasty people (don't want to use the p word here)
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 19:36:37 GMT
The internet has good and bad sides. At 13 I was speaking to people all over the world online, some of which I can credit with saving my life in one way or another. But there are bad sides. I think it's all about teaching kids about the dangers of the net and social media. Tbh these days I think internet safety should be on the school curriculum, because some parents just don't care. I would never let A on YouTube, Facebook, etc, unsupervised or at all until he was about 14 and then I'd still like to monitor his usage. There are several ways to restrict access or viewing on practically all devices now
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 21:54:01 GMT
This is awful.
I grew up hating myself. I still do. Went through school as an outcast because I wasnt pretty or skinny like the other girls. I can sympathise but this is completely the wrong way to go about things. It will just create more insecurities :-(
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