This article is more than

6 year old
Social Networks

Parents Are Talking To Their Kids About Logan Paul And Trying To Control Their YouTube Consumption

January 3, 2018 at 17:57

Parents are struggling with establishing new internet boundaries. A mom told BuzzFeed News she believes Logan Paul's video was "a wake-up call."
Following the growing outrage and controversy surrounding YouTuber Logan Paul's now-deleted video of a dead body while filming in Aokigahara, Japan, several parents of young Logan and Jake Paul fans told BuzzFeed News it was their first time learning about the contents of such videos. Some of them are now enforcing strict rules at home in an effort to intervene and regulate their children's YouTube consumption.
Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

BuzzFeed News spoke with seven parents who shared similarly deep concerns about their children's exposure and relationship to the Paul brothers' massively popular YouTube channels.

Their children's ages range from 3 to 11 and all share a unique allegiance to Logan and Jake Paul's videos. According to their parents and recent conversations they've had with their children, they've discovered that some of them are die-hard fans and others casually view their videos from time-to-time.

Here's what the parents of these young fans and viewers are urgently asking of YouTube, and what they are doing in their own homes in an attempt to regulate and impose some kind of parental control.

A mom from California, Jordanna Yadegar, said that her 10-year-old began to refer to herself as “Savage Sam” because of the Paul brothers. After seeing Logan's video, Yadegari blocked YouTube from every device in her home.

Jordanna Yadegar
Jordanna Yadegar

Yadegar bought Sam around $100 worth of Logan’s merchandise, which she plans to take away from her. As for her Sam, she wants to know when she’ll have access to YouTube again.

“She just kept asking, ‘When am I going to get it back?’ I don't even know what to tell her about the suicide and the suicide forest. I feel like her mind is too pure to hear about that stuff.”

Yadegar wants the platform to screen videos before they are posted.

“It's not rocket science to know thousands of kids would watch him,” the mom said of Paul’s viewership. She also wants the company to punish Logan by taking down his channel.

“You can still find it,” she said of the video. “I didn't watch it through [Logan] I watched it through someone else. What else is there? If there's something like that, there's so much more."

"I don't know what she's watching, when she's sitting on her bed all quiet," Yadegar added. "It's sad, but it did open my eyes to, ‘No, she's too young for this.’”

Jemma Roberts of Cinderford, Gloucestershire, in the UK told BuzzFeed News she implemented similarly strict regulations when she was made aware of the so-called "suicide forest" video. Roberts said she immediately asked three of her children who are fans to unsubscribe from the channel "or I will remove their tablets."

Jemma Roberts

A mother of eight, Roberts has four children (aged 10, 8, 5, and 2), who "all love [Logan Paul] and his brother."

Roberts told BuzzFeed News she was aware of the YouTubers, having heard her children talk about them and sing their songs, but she "never paid any attention" to the substance of their videos.

When her oldest child made her aware of the Logan video in question, she said she was "absolutely shocked," not only by the nature of the video, but how far it reached and was enabled to reach on YouTube.

"YouTube put it on their 'trending' list and it was almost worse than Logan uploading it in the first place," she said.

Now, Roberts said she's "hot on my kids' tails," demanding that they unsubscribe to both brothers' channels and monitoring their children's YouTube habits by looking over their shoulders.

"I told them, 'Do not try looking for it; if you do I will remove your tablet.' They've accepted it."

Read More (...)

You did not use the site, Click here to remain logged. Timeout: 60 second