I didn’t want to know Andrew Tate, but eventually, I had little choice. I kept hearing his name from the middle school boys I teach. Whenever they said Tate’s name, other boys would snicker. Tate has captured the imagination of boys in a way that few other social media influencers have by preaching money, muscles, and how to get female attention. I won’t go into detail, but he currently faces charges of human trafficking, rape, and forming an organized crime group. I emailed the parent of one of my students after he kept shouting, “Andrew Tate is great!” The parent had no idea her child even knew, let alone followed, this divisive influencer.
Who does your child follow? How is this person influencing your child? Not knowing who that person is and what he or she says is like letting your kid hang out with a person you’ve never met. You would never let that happen in real life. From body dysmorphia to false advertising, here are 5 reasons you really need to know your child’s favorite influencers.
1. Kids are easily influenced.
Social media influencers know their target audience. They hype mega millions, buff bodies, beautiful faces, and fame. So, for tweens and teens still trying to figure themselves out, influencers are hard to resist.
If you don’t know who your child is watching, anything the influencer says is going unchallenged in your child’s mind. But if you familiarize yourself with the influencer’s platform, you’ll be able to talk to your child and ask questions that make him think about whether the influencer’s message is worth taking to heart.
2. Our kids are desperate to fit in.
Your kids might follow an influencer just because they want to be part of the crowd. It’s hard to feel like they fit in when everyone is talking about someone they don’t know. So, they hit “follow.” Knowing who they follow will help you build their discernment and confidence to make wiser choices, even if it means not fitting in.
3. Influencers can trigger body dysmorphia.
Big lips are in. My female students who don’t have big lips say they feel self-conscious. Boys feel pressure to have big muscles, even before they’re physically able to build them. According to the American Psychological Association, body dysmorphia involves “excessive preoccupation with an imagined defect in physical appearance or markedly excessive concern with a slight physical anomaly.” One study in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal found that 5% to 15% of individuals who get cosmetic procedures suffer from body dysmorphic disorder.
If kids are constantly looking at people who look “perfect,” it’s hard not to feel less than perfect or even defective. Another benefit of knowing your kids’ favorite influencers is being able to help them handle the pressure to measure up to a filtered and unreal ideal, which leads us to…
4. They don’t know what’s real.
Kids don’t understand that a lot of what they see on social media is filtered and fabricated. That big lip trend? Girls may not realize that many influencers (who act like their lips are untouched) have enhanced lips.
Our children need us to help them think critically about what’s real and what’s filtered. We also need to shine a spotlight on the fact that social media influencers look like they have it all, but being an influencer is not a shortcut to happiness.
Our children need us to help them think critically about what’s real and what’s filtered. Click To Tweet5. You know the truth about money.
When given the opportunity, I tell my students, “Influencers do whatever they can to get your attention because the more views they get from you, the more money they get from advertisers.” I explain that influencers try to be shocking and say crazy things (some things they don’t even believe) because attention equals money.
If your child had a friend in real life who made money off their friendship, you wouldn’t think twice about digging deep into what that person’s all about. Don’t wait to investigate your child’s favorite influencer, too.
What else do moms need to know about influencers?
