Keep scrolling for the mommy vlogger going viral for posting Mormon propaganda.
How Daddy, Mother, Babygirl, & The Millennial Teen Became The Internet's Family Unit
It’s no secret that the internet loves a label. Chloe Joe, writing for Bustle, dissects some most popular descriptors, positioning Daddy, Mother, Babygirl, and the 30-year-old teenage girl as the social media's virtual family dynamic.
For those unfamiliar with the terminology, Joe breaks down each category, providing examples of the celebrities who embody the internet's token Daddy, Mother, Babygirl, and 30-year-old teenager.
Daddy made its debut as the first "family member" online in 2013. Since then, the internet has embraced various celebrities as "Daddies," including (but not limited to) Paul Wesley, Ryan Reynolds, and John Stamos. However, according to Joe, the terminology is now fading from the zeitgeist.
“Daddy was the first to arrive, and is now the first to fade. Even [Pedro] Pascal, once the preeminent Daddy, has recently been Babygirlified,” she writes.
Speaking of being "Babygirlified," the term refers to a male celebrity who is attractive but also considered sensitive and vulnerable. Jacob Elordi is a prime example, having been heavily associated with the Babygirl persona following the release of Saltburn.
While celebrities have long been infantilised, “this urge to parent is no longer just the result of a fan’s parasocial attachment but an intrinsic part of the thirst object’s appeal,” Joe adds.
As for “Mother,” this term has completely penetrated mainstream pop culture— even inspiring a song by Meghan Trainor with the same title. While it initially had ties to the LGBTQ+ Ballroom community, Mother has “since been transmuted, interwoven with diva worship.”
And finally, we have the 30-year-old teenage girl, referring to the women who have passed their adolescent years but are not quite ready to bid farewell to this era. These women have embraced girlhood but also resonate with the struggles and angst of this time of life.
“Regardless of their gender, people in their 20s and 30s are struggling to attain traditional markers of maturity: Homeownership remains out of reach; parenthood seems prohibitively resource and time intensive,” Joe explains. “Young women staring down the barrel of adulthood are faced with a particularly grim image.”
Joe also explores why internet users have adopted the nuclear family structure to identify their favourite celebrities.
While it may be the result of pandemic-era isolation, the nuclear family is something that every internet user is familiar with, making it a powerful lens to interpret the world around them.
Read the full story via Bustle.
A marketplace of girl influencers managed by moms and stalked by men
In a new piece for The New York Times, Jennifer Valentino-DeVries and Michael H. Keller analysed millions of Instagram posts and interviewed over 100 people to unveil the reality of childhood stardom in the digital world.
From the rise of family channels to the democratisation of viral fame through TikTok, child influencers aren’t exactly new at this point. While parents may hope to make their child’s dream come true or kickstart an influencer career, online fame at a young age often becomes “a dark underworld dominated by adult men.”
“Interacting with the men opens the door to abuse. Some flatter, bully and blackmail girls and their parents to get racier and racier images,” Valentino-DeVries and Keller report. “Men [may] openly fantasise about sexually abusing the children they follow on Instagram and extol the platform for making the images so readily available.”
This raises the question of why parents persist in supporting (and essentially commodifying) their children as they strive to become fully-fledged influencers. Unsurprisingly, a significant force behind this is money— with some child influencers raking in six-figure incomes.
Instagram's paid subscriptions are one feature that "mom-run" child influencer accounts use to make money. Although children are typically prohibited from using this feature, the fact that an adult manages such accounts enables them to effectively "side-step" these restrictions.
To make matters worse, when users report inappropriate behaviour and comments from men on platforms like Instagram, they are unlikely to get a response.
“Account owners who report explicit images or potential predators to Instagram are typically met with silence or indifference, and those who block many abusers have seen their own accounts’ ability to use certain features limited, according to the interviews and documents,” the article continues.
With minimal protection from social media platforms, parents are forced to moderate the account and comment sections themselves. While many resort to blocking users and restricting comments, this often doesn’t bode well for commercial opportunities.
Valentino-DeVries and Keller go on to confirm that many people following child influencers are “men who have been charged with or convicted of sex crimes.”
“In monitoring multiple Telegram chat rooms, The Times found men who treat children’s Instagram pages and subscription services as menus to satisfy their fantasies,” the journalists write. “They trade information about parents considered receptive to producing and selling ‘private sets’ of images.”
Nevertheless, social media giants like Meta fail to be proactive, relying “on its ‘technology’ to determine” which content and comments violate community guidelines.
Read the full investigation via The New York Times.
Blame it on Instagram Face: Is Gen Z *Actually* Aging Faster?
This week's episode of the infinite scroll podcast dives into the "Gen Z is aging like milk" discourse while considering the impact of 'Instagram face' on how internet users expect young women to look.
Since pictures of Kylie Jenner at the Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 2024 Couture Show dropped, social media has been flooded with criticism of her face, saying how old Kylie looks for her age.
The consensus online was that Kylie ruined her natural, youthful-looking appearance with filler, botox, and other work she had done.
As a high-profile Gen Z celebrity, Kylie is often considered a “bellwether” for how this demographic looks and what they like. With Kylie (allegedly) looking “old” at 26, many internet users are claiming that Gen Z is ageing quickly.
This conversation comes when there is a heightened discourse on TikTok about ageing.
The “aged” filter, for instance, has 26.4 million posts on TikTok. This filter shows users a side-by-side of themselves now and when they’re older, leaving many creators shocked by their appearance.
TikTok creators Taylor Donoghue and Jordan Howlett have also contributed to the conversation. They both went viral after revealing that they were Gen Z when their followers thought they were significantly older.
“When my mum and I walk out in public, people think that my mum is my younger sister. When I tell people I am going to hang out with my family, they think I am talking about my children. I don’t have kids… I am still the child,” Jordan says in a TikTok.
Several theories have emerged as Millennials wonder why Gen Z appears to be aging rapidly. They seem to attribute Gen Z’s mature appearance to the fading trend of the tween aesthetic, the increase in plastic surgery, the revival of nostalgic styles, and the popularity of vaping.
The first three theories reflect the tendency of Gen Z to adopt a somewhat uniform appearance— blending tweendom and teenagehood with adulthood. This uniformity is partly a result of the rise of Instagram Face as the beauty standard.
Jia Tolentino describes “Instagram Face” for The New Yorker as “a young face… with poreless skin and plump, high cheekbones. It has catlike eyes and long, cartoonish lashes; it has a small, neat nose and full, lush lips.”
While it is a possibility that Gen Z is ageing quickly, Lauren Meisner, host of the infinite scroll podcast, concludes that this demographic might just be getting older.
"The oldest Gen Z is turning 28 this year,” she notes. “The internet is not always right. Just because a topic drives viral conversation and churns out thinkpieces from mainstream media, who are desperately trying to stay on the pulse with Gen Z, it doesn’t mean that these topics hold any weight at all.”
Listen to the podcast via YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
How a Willy Wonka Event in the U.K. Ended in Calls to Police and Demands For Refunds
After Timothée Chalamet starred in the Wonka musical film last year, Willy Wonka has entered the online zeitgeist (mainly due to viewers getting the ick after watching his performance). Now, a Willy Wonka-themed event in Glasgow, Scotland, billed as "Willy's Chocolate Experience," is going viral after it completely flopped.
The event was set to be an immersive experience, inviting attendees into Willy Wonka's world and chocolate factory.
It was hosted by The House of Illuminati, a London-based experience company. The marketing and imagery promoting the event were made by AI, leaving those who signed up with high expectations.
When the guests arrived, they were met with a (pretty much empty) warehouse. They were so outraged that they called the police, claiming they had been scammed.
"It was sparsely decorated with props that didn't all even make sense — like a single, sad bouncy castle — and there was little to no chocolate, and it cost nearly $40 per person. The oompa loompas looked deeply unhappy, and the entire event left children and adults alike afraid," Christianna Silva writes for Mashable.
"Willy's Chocolate Experience" soon went viral on X, where users started joking about the event's woeful state.
Some of the most popular posts include a picture of the “deeply unhappy” Oompa Loompa and a video of a fictional character — "the unknown" — emerging from behind a mirror.
Paul Connell, the actor and comedian hired to play Willy Wonka, capitalised on the event's virality.
He shared his experience working with The House of Illuminati on TikTok, saying that he was given a script of "AI-generated gibberish" and instructions to offer children a jelly bean and a cup of lemonade.
"Willy's Chocolate Experience" has since been cancelled, and refunds are being issued to the attendees (it's giving Tanacon).
Read the full breakdown via TIME.
Is Nara Smith posting Mormon propaganda?
TikTok users are currently fixated on Nara Smith — model, influencer and wife of Lucky Blue Smith. At only 22, she has gone viral for posting stay-at-home momfluencer content. While there is nothing inherently wrong with these types of videos, users have criticised her for promoting tradwife ideology, Mormon propaganda, and anti-Feminist beliefs.
It’s safe to say that Nara has had a couple of viral moments. Many TikTok users are shocked by her cooking habits because she tends to make almost everything from scratch.
One moment that left internet users in disbelief was when she made a grilled cheese for her children from scratch (Yes, that means both an entire block of cheese and a loaf of bread).
Aside from questions about how Nara possibly has the time, many internet users feel uncomfortable with her proximity to “Mormoncore” and “tradwife culture.”
“A lot of the Mormon mum influencers promote a traditional way of living, where the women stay at home, cook, clean, and take care of the children while obeying the teachings of the Church,” Ky Stewart writes for Junkee. “Nara’s content definitely sits somewhere within the tradwife and Mormon influencer axis.”
Her content isn’t overtly religious. However, TikTok users feel that she is posting propaganda. They also feel unsettled by the fact that Nara is a woman of colour in a Church that has long been discriminatory to minorities.
That being said, the response to Nara's content has prompted a discussion online about whether Nara would be receiving the same criticism if she were a white woman.
Though influencers shouldn't attempt to proselytise their followers, Nara's situation highlights the challenge of separating a lifestyle from its underlying belief system, particularly when catering to Gen Z— a demographic that values the principles of the creators they choose to follow.
Read more about Nara via Junkee.