In the eyes of many children, being a child star would be a dream come true. After all, you get to live a fun, glamorous life, be wealthy, and be well-known to many, but in reality, the behind-the-scenes process of all these videos is very different from its idealized image. Being a child star can not only affect one’s life in the present, it also can greatly impact a person’s life in the future.
Although many people may not realize it, child stars have to go through a lot of work, even at such a young age. The demands of being a child star can take a toll on their mental health and education. Many child stars face a lot of pressure to perform and keep a certain active, childlike image, which can lead to multiple harmful effects, such as stress, anxiety, and depression. Additionally, the lack of privacy and people constantly in the child’s business can cause a lot of issues. Not to mention, the child could receive online hate, which wouldn’t create a good environment during their childhood days; this further adds to how they can be affected mentally. Furthermore, the schedules of filming or performing may interfere with a child star’s education. They could be forced to film for so long that it would be difficult to balance their school schedule and filming at the same time. This could have multiple long-term consequences on a child star’s life in the long run.
In some cases, adults in the entertainment industry may exploit and manipulate child stars for their own gain. Pressuring the children to take on certain roles, pushing them to work long hours, or even mishandling their finances are all things that happen in the entertainment industry that the children have been accustomed to. Additionally, adults have too much influence and power over the child star’s personal life. It can be something as little as controlling their image to something much larger like their relationships and decisions. These all could have strong effects on a child’s well-being and can not only contribute to negative experiences in their career, but also in the child’s personal life.
Marcy Ha (10) shares, “Being a child star really can truly affect someone’s life greatly, sometimes in positive ways, but typically they are in negative ways. I feel like when most people talk about the harmful effects of being a child star, they usually talk about what happened in the past, but a lot of it can also happen in the future, similar to JoJo Siwa.” The transition from being a child star to adulthood can be somewhat difficult. Many young stars have a hard time changing their overall image since they typically have an online identity that may differ from who they actually want to be. Not to mention, the pressure from the entertainment industry can make it hard for former child stars to truly be themselves and change other’s views on them. Not to mention, the entertainment industry is always changing, and if the child star feels forced to do something to stay relevant and popular, they might go down the wrong path.
