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This article was originally published in The Sydney Morning Herald
Big Bird and the time when we understood being a kid Dr Joanne Orlando Sesame Street’s Big Bird conjures up images of innocent, wholesome childhood play. In contrast, young kid’s today clammer to watch videos of ecowarrior VSCO girls on TikTok!
You’re probably scratching your head right now thinking what the hell is VSCO girl. You’re not alone. Should we as parents give up any possibility of keeping up with the massively fast moving force that is kid’s internet culture? Should we lament the loss of childhood? Should we lament the loss of feeling in control as parents?
The sad passing of Big Bird’s puppeteer is a poignant time to reflect on how much children’s viewing interests have changed. Trash cans, talking birds and farm yard animals are still popular however there have been massive shifts in what children want to watch on their screen, and the messages they get from these.
I worked for many years as a writer for PlaySchool and was fortunate to be involved is Aussie segments of Sesame Street. We firmly focused on entertainment that helped kids learn the basics – alphabet and numbers- and the message of being kind, and to love your family. Our content was what many adults would consider to be suitable for children.
Screen content for kids however has changed massively. VSCO girls are huge (think Big Bird in your day). How they came to be popular gives huge insight into understanding the state of play for kid’s screen content. The name VSCO comes from an app by that name, that edit photos using cute, fun filters. In the last year the term VSCO became shorthand for a particular type of teen; typically white, wealthy and eco-conscious. This concept of VSCO girl then moved onto the very popular new video-sharing/social media app called TikTok, where videos of girls impersonating VSCO girls is rife.
The simple days of watching farmyard animals on screen with your kid are fading fast.
In my research a parent told me that her 8-year-old asked for a VSCO girl drink bottle for Christmas. The mum looked at me blank-face with no idea of whether that was good, bad, dangerous, what it was or what she should do.
And she’s not alone!
Children’s viewing has firmly shifted away from TV programs classified for children, to online content that can be disturbing, deceiving and violent. Navigating children’s on-screen content has become increasingly murky and difficult for parents.
VSCO girls are in.
The most popular channel on YouTube Ryan’s Toy Review, earned a whopping $22 million this year, and is now facing court in USA for deceptive ad campaigns that misled millions of its young viewers daily. YouTube are making changes to their policies to protect their audience (many of whom are children) from viewing real-world violence on their screens. Facebook and its sister app Instagram have also announced they are to block under-18s from viewing sexual content. While you might think of these apps as for adults, many 10-year-old can be found using Instagram.
Children screen content is no longer sit and forget. While you might not be able to keep up with it all, it’s important to keep up with some. Have regular talks with your child, find out what they are watching and why they like it.
