Oversharing momfluencers ruined their childhoods, now they’re fighting back: ‘I was hit by a car – she put a camera in my face’

The first wave of social media babies, whose childhoods were spread all over the internet, are now fighting back and calling for stricter child protection laws.

Cam Barrett, 25, from Chicago, said she is still suffering after falling victim to “sharenting” – a term that combines “sharing” and “parenting” and refers to family vlogs and the publication of a child’s life without their consent.

Growing up, Barrett told CNN that their mother used MySpace and Facebook to document every detail of their private lives — from getting their first period to tantrums and even the fact that they were adopted.

One of the most traumatizing experiences she shared was when she was hit by a drunk driver at the age of 15 and ended up in the hospital.

“She was there taking pictures when I was strapped to the gurney and I had a neck brace on,” Barrett said ABC news in a sit-down interview. ‘I needed a hand to hold, but instead a camera was placed in my face.’

As their mother’s posts gained traction online, Barrett, who uses the pronouns they and them, said she became isolated from intense cyberbullying.

She told CNN that she knows the exact date of her first period because her mother posted the news on Facebook when she was in fourth grade — which she described as “super embarrassing.”

On another chilling occasion, she said that at the age of 12, she received a private message on Facebook from a man who claimed he had followed them home and knew where they lived, CNN reported.

She said she often didn’t feel like she could confide in their family, fearing their most private emotions would be plastered on their mother’s Facebook walls.

Barrett, now an advocate for children’s online privacy, has testified before multiple state lawmakers and shared their stories to push for stronger child protection laws.

The former ‘content kid’ has amassed 240,000 followers on TikTok, where she spreads the message about the dangers of family vlogs and social media abuse by their family without the child’s consent.

She admits that their mother’s Internet presence had some benefits, such as front-row tickets to Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift’s concerts from LiveNation resellers in exchange for promotional posts after the accident.

But she says their mother’s inability to see the consequences of her actions and the bullying she endured took a lasting toll on her mental health, causing her to drop out of school and develop debilitating anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

She also said she now rarely speaks to their mother, who did not respond to requests for comment.

Generation Z, born between the late 1990s and early 2010s, never knew a world without social media. Now, as young adults, they struggle with the impact of documenting their youth online.

While Barrett acknowledges that her mother was new to technology, she believes it is important to highlight the potential harm such messages can cause.

Parents these days are likely more aware of the influence of social media on children, and advocates like Barrett hope their experiences can help shed more light on the issue.

The biggest concern is not occasional photos, but family vloggers and influencers exploiting their children for online fame and profit on platforms like YouTube and TikTok. These creators turn their families’ lives into a constant online spectacle, with every detail visible.

Until recently, there were no laws protecting children, but things are changing.

Comedian Caroline Easom is raising awareness of the issue through satirical takes on parents who abuse their children’s personal lives to generate revenue on social media. She said the rise of social media has changed everything for her generation.

“Social media happened to us so quickly and changed many of our daily habits and behaviors almost overnight. It’s as if we’ve all started using a new drug, with no clinical trials and no information on long-term side effects,” he told CNN. “And now, more than ten years later, we are only beginning to realize how reckless that was.”

With more than three million followers on TikTok, Easom recognizes that social media can be a positive place where people can be themselves – but sometimes at a price.

“One of the biggest lessons we learn from people who were overshared as children is that social media is not the place to let your guard down, as a viewer or as a creator. Social media is not a safe space,” Easom said.

‘These platforms invite and reward your vulnerability and authenticity, but that authenticity has lasting consequences, especially when it comes to children. The cost of placing your child for your own validation and attention could be their trust, or worse, their safety.”

Other young advocates are taking a social justice approach to raise awareness.

Chris McCarty, 19, a sophomore at the University of Washington, founded Quit Clicking Kids, an advocacy and education site used to combat the monetization of minors on social media and raise awareness about legislation in the works to protect victims of ‘sharing’. .’

They said CNN The difference between child actors and “content kids” is that the actors are allowed to leave the set and go home, leaving their work behind.

“I’ve talked to a number of child actors, and one of the things that really stood out is that when they were filming as child actors, there was a very clear distinction between when they were on and when they were off camera,” they said. she. .

‘When they got home at the end of the day, they knew they didn’t have to perform anymore. But this new generation of kids ultimately doesn’t have a home where they can disconnect because the camera is in the house. It’s like living on a movie set all day, every day.”

Unlike ‘content kids’, child actors’ paychecks are also protected.

Under the Coogan Act, proof of a separate trust account from which 15 percent of the minor’s gross wages are withheld must be provided before receiving a work permit.

Currently, “Coogan accounts” are required in California, New York, Illinois, Louisiana, and New Mexico.

But what about similar accounts for ‘content kids’?

Recently, Illinois passed a law requiring parents to compensate their influential children.

Amending child labor laws, the law requires that a portion of revenue from content featuring minors be placed in a trust fund that can be accessed when they turn 18.