People will do anything for their fifteen minutes of fame, for the rush of adrenaline that comes along with being known amongst the stars—even if it is for just a moment, even if it comes at a cost.

For some people, they are willing to go as far as to sacrifice their own reputation, their safety, and even the privacy of their children—cue the “influencer” parents.

Influencing has long since been a career on the rise, especially with the advancement of social media. As a result of the versatility that being an influencer offers, there is an infinite number of categories and types of influencers; even so, it is influencer parents that especially spark the flame of controversy. Oftentimes, it is more specifically “Mommy Vloggers” at the center of all the drama.

These types of influencers are often mothers who videotape their everyday lives, highlighting the lives of their children, whether it be parts of their day-to-day routine or some fun activities that they do specifically for the video. The format of the video in itself is completely innocent and harmless; the desire to document their kid’s childhood or help out other new, struggling parents is not inherently ill-intentioned. However, as cute and entertaining as these videos can be at times, they can be just as distasteful.

The first and fundamental problem that people have with “Mommy Vloggers” is the simple fact that they are posting their children to be seen by the entire world—not just by friends and family alone, but rather by, in some instances, millions of people to observe. With such a large platform, they cannot confidently say they know each and every one of those people watching has good intentions, and that fact alone is enough to drive people away from the concept of constantly vlogging their children as a whole.

While for some “Mommy Vloggers,” that may be the extent to which their problems go, for others, they reach from merely distasteful to full-out abhorrent.

There is a line at which vlogging turns from being an activity that’s fun and cute to do to something that is deeply exploitative. It is a line that these “Mommy Vloggers” cross over way too often.

There is a clear difference between posting a video of a child laughing while having fun and posting a video of a child playing in the bathtub naked, both of which are real clips that have been posted online before; one of those videos is a cute, feel-good video, while the other is invasive and creepy.

Although it may seem obvious to say, a child is exactly that: a child. They are not old enough to communicate that they do not feel comfortable with being shown to anyone on the internet. They are not old enough to grasp the gravity that these situations can hold. They are not old enough to consent to any of these inappropriate clips of them being posted.

At the end of the day, it is okay to wish for your fifteen minutes of fame, but the cost for it should never be your children’s privacy.