Guess what my six year old son said to me the other day?
“Dad. I want to be a Youtube superstar.”
“WHAT?!!”
Yes; he meant it. At least for a short while. And whenever I bring it up again actually. This is how kids are today. Totally influenced by things like Youtube and Instagram (whatever that is) and who knows what else.
Teenage Aspirations
I have heard of teenagers in their final years of school who really think that is what they can do when they leave school. This genuinely is the limit of their aspirations in more than a few cases. ‘I want to be a youtuber’…. ‘I want to be an Instagram Influencer’ (whatever the f*ck that is!)
Really? Well why the hell aren’t you already doing it now? would be my argument. They can already operate a PC and they know how to record videos on their phones; so what is stopping them? The truth is that they really cannot be bothered. And they will not be bothered doing anything with their lives in the immediate future. At least for a few years. Most will eventually wake up to reality. Sadly quite a few will not. Many will drift through some form of higher education until they realise they have wasted another 3 or 4 years of their lives.
Anyway, when did real career aspirations disappear? Whatever happened to “I want to be a nurse” or “I want to be a carpenter”, or even “I want to work for the council”?
Back in the Day…
When I was his age we used to play outside as much as we could. Football, cricket, fishing or on our bikes. Although we also tried to watch the TV as much as possible even though there were only three channels and one of those was rubbish. That used to annoy our parents back in the day. We never ended up with square eyes though did we? So we must have got out a fair bit then?
Definitely Worse Today…
I guess using the iPad watching Youtube “stars” videos is not much worse than watching crap on TV. Or is it? I guess my grandparents would have said the same thing about that one-eyed box invention the television. ..
Sometimes I think it really is much worse. He watches all sorts now. Even though there are control settings etc… He can now read and write well enough to search for videos online. Before you know it he has watched them and comes to ask about them.
“Where the hell did you know about that from?”
“A youtube video (laughs)”
“What?”
And then we have to take it off him. It shouldn’t be like that but in these days of (anti) social media it is a bit of a mine-field out there.
I want to be a pilot, I want to be a primary school teacher, I want to be a hacker & get paid for it (cyber security), I want to be an engineer, I want to do art for marketing, I’ve got great prospects in my apprenticeship, I’ve just been offered an engineering scholarship. No, aspirations have not disappeared. Those voices are still heard. These youngsters don’t spend a lot of time connecting with the public so maybe that’s why you don’t hear about them.
Hi Lucy. Thanks for the comment. Of course not all kids are like that. The article was mostly in jest (hence the “I want to be a council worker”). But there are a scary amount of teenagers who are so wrapped up in the (anti) social media these days and really think they can just do this when they leave school. A school with a good reputation I know quite well for example (and the most popular with parents wanting to send their kids there) has more than a few of them. Even that I have no real problem with. My main point to those kids is why don’t you just do it then instead of talking about it? In fact looking at some of the things on youtube it is tempting to give it a go – if there is money to be made. Remember most of the main youtubers are actually adults.!!