A sustainable lifestyle, climate-friendly nutrition tips, social issues and daily politics – alongside chic vacation pictures and casual shopping photos, more and more informative content that also appeals to children and young people can be found on social networks. The people behind this content are often so-called sense fluencers.
“To influence” means “toinfluence” – and that’s exactly what so-called influencers do in different ways. They present certain lifestyles, advertise products or recommend activities. All this should look as attractive as possible to the fan community in the social networks and perhaps even be imitated. Influencers earn money when they cooperate with companies and advertise for them.
The word Sinnfluencer is made up of “Sinn” and “Influencer”. This refers to people who use their reach on social networks to promote and distribute meaningful content. For example, they represent certain values and provide information on topics such as alternative and climate-friendly lifestyles, sustainability, discrimination, racism, sexuality, feminism and more. One example is the YouTuber Rezo, who made a well-known video about the CDU and thus also informed about daily politics. Other Sinnfluencers show under the hashtag #zerowaste how to avoid packaging waste in everyday life or how to dress sustainably.
With their information and content, Sinnfluencers contribute to shaping the opinions of children and young people and can be role models. This gives them an advantage over other informative platforms and formats, because Sinnfluencers are where children and young people spend their time every day: At TikTo k, Instagram , YouTube and Co. For younger generations, social networks are more than just platforms for posting vacation pictures and watching funny videos. They also use them for networking, to inform themselves and to exchange ideas. Sinnfluencers address topics that are important to many children and young people.
There are also sense fluencers, who earn money with their content. Behind the recommended products, Sinnfluencers also have collaborations with companies and advertising deals. It is important not to simply repurchase products, but to consider them together: Do I need the recommended product? Does what I see also correspond to my values or am I influenced too much? Is it about information or advertising?
Many topics of the Sinnfluencers are the subject of controversial discussions in society and can create potential for conflict. Information about equality, racism, sustainability and more is not always met with openness in digital spaces. Therefore, it is possible that there are also hate messages in the comments. To ensure that children and young people are not discouraged or frightened by this, it is important to talk openly. Explain to your child that behind such comments is an intolerant attitude on the part of the writer, generally directed against those who think differently, and that such insults and hate messages are always hurtful and not okay.
In principle, it is true that sensory influencers make social networks more informative – but you should still take a close look at who is spreading what.
Children discover the world and learn more and more about how it works over time. This also includes rules and values on how people treat each other. Media help them to understand the world. As a place for information and orientation, they answer many everyday questions and support children in their personal development.
Children and young people need role models to guide their own personal development. They look for these not only in their immediate environment, but also in films or social networks, e.g. on YouTube or Instagram. But computer games can also provide orientation, because in them stories are told and roles are tried out.
In computer gaming, you have a character, an avatar, with whom you can act as you wish – at least as far as the programming of the game allows. Because someone has thought about what is possible and set certain rules of the game. In play, even children and young people understand what happens when they act in a certain way. The advantage is: Here they can try themselves out without it having any consequences for their real self and the real environment. You need to make decisions that make a difference, but in a protected space. In some cases, the experience gained in “real life” can also be used.
Most computer games don’t work without following rules – even if not all of them can be easily applied to your own life.
Popular among young people, Minecraft can be played in creative mode so that players build a world together. To do this, they must agree on rules in advance so that their shared world does not end in chaos. Perhaps there are also ideas about how this world should look – whether, for example, everyone lives together or everyone has their own house, whether there is a mayor or everyone decides together. Here, children and young people can already learn how politics works and why it is important for our lives with other people.
In other games, the roles of the characters are predetermined, such as Monument Valley (Part 2). In this puzzle game (for mobile devices) you have to go through abstract worlds in several levels. The characters, a mother and her child, have to find a way out – sometimes alone, sometimes in pairs. The game is played alone. Unconsciously, certain values are conveyed, such as overcoming hurdles or support from the mother. Children can experience how it feels to have to overcome an obstacle alone, but with the support of their mother.
Community, trust, tolerance: sometimes there’s more to computer games than meets the eye. Play together with your child and see if certain values, such as role models, are conveyed. Use this to talk with your child about it and consider whether it fits with your and his ideas about life.
(This article is partly based on the results of a scientific paper by Karolina Kaczmarczyk, see also here.)
