Friday morning I had NBC’s Today Show playing in the background as I worked. A short feature caught my attention enough to not only hit the rewind, but also to prompt a later discussion with The Husband running the gamut from commercialization, privacy, preschoolers’ TV/Video consumption, unexpected celebrity, to responsibility with windfall fortunes… the list went on. And this was BEFORE either of us actually watched even one of the You Tube videos in question. Let me preface that we were discussing concepts, and NOT passing judgement on ANYONE. I can’t stress that enough. I took the roll of the Devil’s Advocate, because I wanted to see how far apart opinions could be stretched on this subject.
Here’s the actual You Tube Channel Hulyan Maya:
The channel up for discussion is “ILoveMayThing’s” Hulyan Maya, which is simply the family’s videos of their children playing with toys. This could be anyone’s videos of their family on You Tube, shared so the far flung friends and family can see each other.
Everything must have changed for this family when the videos, mostly of their children playing with toys, became hugely popular with children- to the tune of millions of hit per day. Enter toy companies paying to have their commercials shown before these videos, they’d be foolish to ignore this golden opportunity to advertise so directly to their targeted audience. The family seems to have made wise decisions as to handle their unexpected fortune.
Our society has long had the Armchair Athlete. Spectator sports bring an enormous amount of joy undoubtedly to billions of people. Here is what most caught my attention- It was a eight second clip that I could’t get over from 2:07 through 2:15 Seeing the kids sitting mesmerized, watching a Hulyan Maya You Tube video on a tablet makes me want to champion less screen time for young children. I would do that differently in my own family if I could go back in time. I know, I know, these little ones could have just come in from running around outside in the fresh air, or reading with a loving caretaker or parent, but in these eight seconds they are just staring and watching other kids play. On a tablet.
Remember, this, coming from me, the woman who raised her daughter on a steady diet of Blues Clues… I’m truly The Pot Calling the Kettle Black, here.
I asked The Husband one last question- Would you do the same today, if you were just starting out with your family in this digital age- would you take this opportunity to have financial freedom in this manner? His reply was that he didn’t know… he just couldn’t say.
branching out... on a limb 