Pokimane & Myth explain why streamers with younger viewers need to be more responsible
YouTube: OfflineTV PodcastPopular Twitch streamers Pokimane and Myth have said streamers should be more responsible if they know their audience is full of younger viewers.
Pokimane and Myth have been among the top streamers on Twitch for the last few years, with 9 million and 7 million followers respectively. With their following and average viewership in the thousands, they likely have a number of younger viewers.
One issue that is commonly brought up regarding big streamers with potentially younger viewers is how a creator’s actions may easily influence the viewer’s actions.
During a February 24 episode of the OfflineTV podcast, Poki and Myth discussed their stance on streamers being responsible on stream.
Pokimane/MythPokimane and Myth discuss streamer responsibility
After talking about various situations they’ve been through on social media, Myth explains how big-name streamers have the potential to do “a lot of damage” when they misuse their platform. Pokimane then brought up the topic of big streamers with younger viewers.
She said: “It blows my mind and it’s very frightening to me that some kids spend more time with a content creator than they do with their own parents. Therefore they value their opinion or how they set an example more than they do their own parents.”
Myth then brought up that some streamers have the idea that it’s not their job to ‘parent’ other people’s kids and while they both agree it’s true to an extent, they admit that there is a ‘reality’ that streamers have to face.
Poki said: “If you know your audience skews towards being younger, you just know that’s the reality of it. It’s almost like a responsibility that’s thrust upon you whether you like it or not.”
(Topic starts at 38:21 in the video)
The Twitch stars discussed their thoughts on streamers who believe “it’s not their job,” with both agreeing that they believe the statement is just a way to make them feel better about not caring about their impact.
“Kids follow in the footsteps of what they see online almost far more than what they see in person, especially depending on how involved a parent is in their child’s life. It’s almost like [the streamers] are delusional,” Pokimane explained.
On January 27, Poki mentioned that she believes Twitch should handle younger viewers better and mentioned the idea of making a kid’s version of the website with better content filtering.