“My 12-year-old sister wants to be a Youtube Blogger. But I won’t let her.”

First thing’s first, you need to know a few things about my talented, hilarious, creative sister.

She’s never been the type of girl to enjoy sport or the great outdoors. She tried dancing for awhile, we tried to talk her into netball – “all your friends are doing it, c’mon!” – and finally we got so desperate that I take her to the beach each weekend for a swim. You can imagine my delight when it’s cold. We just needed to get her out of the house every once in awhile because she is seemingly glued to the screen of her computer.

So basically, she’s an indoors person.

And as anyone who hasn't been living under a rock will know, technology is taking over aka the perfect provider of indoor activities. I'm only eight years older than my sister, but in those days playing snake on your parents phone was the greatest source of entertainment. Now there are music videos to be watched, shows to live-stream, celebrity gossip to catch up on, and most importantly, total strangers to watch as they do ordinary things on Youtube.

And Youtube is where my problems lie. You see, my sister is a technological whiz. She started an online blog about a year ago, which doesn't have any pictures of her, her real name or age anywhere in sight, but does have her writing about her favourite online game, Fantage, to other fans of the dress up website. She has about 100 followers, most of whom also keep their identities secret. She interacts with her anonymous followers on a daily basis, talking mostly about the game and their hobbies. It's a bit of innocent fun, and for along time that was enough for my sister.

Until she saw people posting on Youtube.

Youtube as a mechanism for video-sharing has only been around since 2006. But in that time we've seen ordinary people (with a bit of talent behind the camera/with a makeup brush/or video games) shoot into the realms of celebrity status just because they build a "fandom" dedicated to loving... well, them. Depending on how popular you are depends on how often you post videos, but in essence some young people are making a LIVING off sharing their personal lives online. Youtube pays them. Advertisers pay them. PR companies pay them. The more interesting their house, travel plans, and high profile friends the better.

My sister, like any girl who watches people earning serious money for doing something she could do in her bedroom, wants to start a Youtube channel. And just like that her anonymous blog becomes public, opening her up for scrutiny from total strangers about things she can't change or didn't know she had to. Because her one-size-fits-only-one face will be out their for the world to see. And judge. And nit-pick at. All before she even becomes a teenager.

I know what you're thinking. Why doesn't she make videos and put them on a private setting? Disable comments? Make her profile picture a character from Looney Tunes? There are ways of protecting her, you're saying to yourself. And you're right. The only problem is, my sister isn't interested in being anonymous. If she's creating something, she wants to be in it, on it and around it. Which is when it goes from an innocent hobby to a narcissistic platform for self admiration. She'll thrive on subscribers positive comments and falter at their negative taunts. I know her. I know what kind of hold she has over her own self esteem. And I know it's certainly not strong enough to take a beating day after day from cowardly strangers.

@lovingtanofficial sent us early Easter onesies, so naturally I took early Easter photos ?? I'm obsessed ?? @lewieandzeus ? #shaaanxo #shaaanxolewie #shaaanxozeus #bunnies #puppas

A photo posted by Shannon ? #shaaanxo (@shaaanxo) on Mar 9, 2016 at 4:32pm PST

I have ANOTHER new video this week (I'm on a roll!) this time is a super fun #OOTD I filmed in LA as a collab with my friend @simplysona - who will be checking it out? It's up now! We filmed casual outfits for my channel and a more dressy option for hers! So head to my channel RIGHT NOW and leave a comment saying 'jam donuts' so I know you came from Instagram! Link to my channel in my bio ? #chloemorello #simplysona A photo posted by Chloe Morello (@chloemorello) on Feb 29, 2016 at 1:13pm PST

When they go through breakups, acne, illness, grief, marriage, birth, or plastic surgery, the camera is there, steadied to record the moment for their fans. I get it's a way of interacting, but these people don't know you. You don't owe them your right to privacy, so why are thousands of young people giving it away for money?

And why does my sister want that life at just 12?

At the moment the option is off the table. She's severely disappointed, and probably hoping our family will change its mind, but we're not so sure. What would you do?