Like, Follow, Subscribe: The hidden costs of childhood as online content

This book uncovers the messy realities of mom and family vloggers, untangling the issues of consent and privacy involved in putting their children's lives online

Like, Follow, Subscribe: Influencer Kids and the Cost of a Childhood Online

By Fortesa Latifi

Published by Gallery Books

320 pages  ₹3,048

 

Four hundred eighty billion dollars. This is the amount Goldman Sachs predicts the creator and influencer economy will be worth by 2027. As we consume more and more content online, the industry has emerged as a popular source of earning fame and money for many creators. This includes the niche yet profitable category of family vloggers and mom influencers, the focus of Fortesa Latifi’s Like, Follow, Subscribe: Influencer Kids and the Cost of a Childhood Online. 

Ms Latifi’s book, which grew out of experiences around her pregnancy and motherhood, seeks answers to some pertinent questions. She is curious about why people turn to family vlogging and mom-influencing and what makes them share so much of their children’s lives online. Are the children asked for their consent? What are the legal and financial rights of the children who appear in the content? In her quest to find answers to these and other questions raised in her book, Ms Latifi speaks to vloggers, influencers, and their children, along with psychologists, sociologists and academics. The result is a well-researched yet intimately told book that refuses to resort to the absolute binary of good/bad in every case. Instead, she highlights the complex truths of the influencer world while also pointing out the moral and ethical lines that can get blurred occasionally in the pursuit of more fame and money. 

The book opens with the mommy bloggers of the early 2000s who shared their motherhood journeys online through blogs, paving the way for the modern mom-influencer. But Ms Latifi is quick to point out the difference. While the bloggers wrote about their experiences of messy motherhood, the contemporary influencers tend to be heavily dependent on posting the faces and lives of their children and presenting the façade of a perfect home. Some of these videos appear harmless, even cute. But there are many that make her  — and the reader — feel queasy. Often, such videos show children in vulnerable circumstances. Ironically, as we hear from more than one influencer, these are the videos that get the most traction and views. As the creator parents talk about — and defend — their choice of posting the details of their children online, it emerges that not every parent who puts their children in front of the camera can be labelled a monster. There are children to whom Ms Latifi speaks who love being online and hope to become influencers when they grow up. But there are also those who hate that every moment of their lives turns into content for their parents’ channel. 

Ms Latifi doesn’t limit her research to the relationship between influencer parents and their children. She also dwells on the dangers of online predators and shines a light on the snarky communities that often grow around influencer families. In fact, one of the most fascinating chapters in the book shows the connection between Mormonism and mom influencers. In this chapter, Ms Latifi uncovers why many top family vloggers and mom influencers come from the Mormon faith, and also looks into the booming but controversial “trad wife” content, linking its popularity to the current socio-economic realities. To a lesser degree, she is also interested in why viewers are fascinated by this content. It’s sheer rubbernecking, sure. But, as she learnt in her research, many of the vloggers’ fans are trying to “escape their own less than ideal home life” through these perfect-family videos. 

The biggest strength of  Like, Follow, Subscribe is its refusal to take the easy way out by resorting to sweeping absolutes. Ms Latifi brings a depth of argument and displays a willingness to look at all sides of the equation, even the sides with which she clearly disagrees. Her approach is never dismissive, and she arms the readers with enough material to see the complex picture behind what’s recorded by the camera. 

It is inevitable that in covering the same ground from different angles, there is some overlap. However, nothing in the book feels repetitive or redundant. The focus of each chapter is sharply defined, which keeps the book from repeating the points it has already made. Ms Latifi also refuses to bury herself in the background. She makes her presence felt through her opinions, questions, assertions as well as dilemmas. This makes the book intimate, even personal. 

Like, Follow, Subscribe is about a profitable corner of the internet. Even as it focuses on uncovering the messy realities of lives beyond the likes and follows they earn on the grid, it also becomes an analysis of the internet culture of which we are all a part. 

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The reviewer is an independent writer and translator