Her hair dishevelled, little Avery Timm spins around her room, mouthing the lyrics to Ke$ha's Tik Tok, tapping her socked foot and gesturing with her yellow alarm clock.
The goofy montage is captured on Avery’s webcam, along with 241 other videos the 12-year-old Sarnia, Ont. girl has uploaded to her YouTube channel since 2008. With more than 380,000 views, Avery's rendition is a viral hit – she’s even convinced her classmates that she’s “famous.”
“I like it and it’s really awesome that I’m getting so many views. I worked really hard on the video so I really think I deserved it,” said Avery.
The girl, who suffers from a rare form of dwarfism, says the videos are her hobby. Avery’s family says the newfound fame has helped her self esteem despite the fact that some viewers have left such vicious responses the Timms have had to disable comments.
Avery's devotion to YouTube follows in the tradition of other eccentric kids who have taken to YouTube to diarize, perform and give the public a portal into their worlds, only to become voraciously consumed memes in the process.
There was “Sexman,” aka “Pruane2Forever,” a squawky Canadian boy with braces whose profanity-laced YouTube rants – 197 of them – landed him and an audience with rapper 50 Cent. Boxxy, a jittery elf of a girl, earned international attention and scorn for her embellished expressions and raccoon eyeliner. (Boxxy’s channel is now defunct but her videos have been widely remixed and parodied.) Another teen who called himself Daxflame got some 36 million views for the 148 chronicles he delivered neurotically in mismatched shirts and ties, until his disappearance from YouTube last June.
While families like the Timms believe the Internet is a modern outlet for a child's self-expression, critics say the videos and ensuing comments showcase a culture of “mean-spiritedness,” and over prioritize celebrity in the adolescent life.
“An audience of one can be powerful to an impressionable mind, whether it’s old school and you have the undivided attention of your parents or your younger sibling, or 8,000 hits,” said Kathleen Gallagher, a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education who holds the Canada Research Chair in theatre, youth and research in urban schools.
She questions parents who allow their kids to showcase the intimate details of their lives before a vast, anonymous audience: “When I think about a parent making a choice to open a young child up to random comments – positive or negative – I might question the judgment of that,” said Prof. Gallagher, who has written about identity formation in adolescent girls.
Diane Levin, author of So Sexy So Soon, says parents of young viral phenoms shouldn’t be “demonized” but adds, “If you’re putting a webcam in their bedroom then you’re a victim of the same culture.”
“This culture is undermining kids’ ability to learn how to be caring, and it’s nurturing mean-spiritedness, bullying, a lack of relationship and objectification,” said Dr. Levin, a professor of education at Boston’s Wheelock College.
Although Avery’s Tik Tok video has yielded plenty of fans and genial comments about the girl’s talent and cuteness, it has also attracted bullies, including a trio of teenage girls who posted a “reaction video” where they cackle about Avery’s appearance. (This video has now been seen more than 4,000 times.)
“There’s been some pretty bad stuff posted there,” said Avery’s grandfather Gerry Timm, who got her started by opening the YouTube account.
I’m not going to take away the only hobby she has that she enjoys — Avery's mother, Cassandra Timm
