“My Favorite Labor is Child Labor”: Analyzing Children’s Work in Family Channels

JULIA GARCIA GALINDO, Harvard College '25

THURJ Volume 14 | Issue 2

Abstract

In the world of YouTube, family channels are timelessly popular both with audiences and advertisers. Chronicling the day-today lives of families, these channels heavily feature children of all ages, sometimes from the second they are born. Increasingly, questions have arisen as to the ethics of family vlogs. Are these videos memories or examples of child labor? In this paper I answer: Are children in family vlogs engaged in child labor? Using two popular YouTube families, the McKnights and the Shaytards, as case studies I show that children in family vlogs often meet the ILO’s definition of child labor. These children tend to be inextricably linked to the family channel’s success, stripped of any privacy, as their highs and lows are shared with millions of strangers for large sums of money. All the while, parents redefine internet safety, as it meets their needs.