Social media is used by 60% of the world's population.
The average daily usage is 2 hours and 24 minutes to gain advice, motivation, and possibly a tutorial on how to become a better builder, better physique, better cook, or better mother.
You may be wondering why.
What is the point of social media?
Simple, convenient, and rapid search - image having to travel to the library and read books?!
With social media came an era of influencers and influencers who are fraudsters, liars, fakers, and above all, a generation of influencers who haven't even finished high school and influencers who will use their own children for fame and glory, influencers who will molest their own children just to get a piece of the market, and one of them is Ruby Franke.
A majority of Instagram mega-influencers with more than one million followers worldwide were involved in fraudulent activities to inflate their engagement and follower figures in 2022. Mega-influencers involved in fraud were 58.19 percent of the total in 2022. The average share of influencers involved in fraud in the same year was of 49.32 percent (statista.com)
Ruby Franke is a YouTube mother
Nowadays, social media has the ability to catapult ordinary people to extraordinary fame in a very short amount of time.
The topic of today's narrative will be Ruby Franke's spectacular journey to prominence. Ruby's YouTube channel, "8 Travellers," has around 2.5 million subscribers who watch her film her life with her husband, Kevin, and their six children.
I'm sure you've all heard about popular YouTuber Ruby Franke's arrest.
Channel 8 passengers praised Ruby and Kevin's parenting style, which includes homeschooling their children, as well as their Mormon faith.
Ruby has now been charged with two charges of serious child abuse, which is a harsher reality.
I've created a list of the facts behind Ruby Franke's allegations.
Ruby Franke, who is she?
Ruby Franke is a 41-year-old Mormon mother of six from Ivins, Utah. Her most well-known social media site is her once-popular YouTube channel, "8 Passengers."
Since the channel's launch in 2015, Franke has documented the sometimes intimate, sometimes mundane details of family life in over 1,000 videos, amassing around 2.3 million members.
Some of her most successful films depict her children during their most vulnerable adolescent stages (learning to shave, putting on new clothes, and dealing with reprimands).
Franke discusses her reasoning for real-time parenting decisions while holding out her arms in a self-portrait position and making eye contact with the camera. Her lessons contain subtle references to traditional values or spiritual connotations.
Her YouTube account "8 Passengers" was taken down early this year due to a noticeable increase in criticism.
Why was "8 Passengers" so divisive?
Prior to Franke's imprisonment, a number of other producers' blogs and films detailed numerous examples of what they considered poisonous behaviour.
Some of the criticism is directed at the overall tone of the content, stating that Franke is one of many content producers who force young children to trade their privacy for money.
Ruby's fans began to criticise her because she preached a brutally strict upbringing.
The footage showing Ruby's son being forced to lie on a bean bag for six months as a punishment was the most contentious of these attacks. Ruby had to take down her prominent YouTube account after fans began bringing social workers to her house.
Franke has already threatened to take away meals as punishment in prior recordings.
There are further videos depicting Franke threatening to cut off her child's teddy bear's head, robbing children of Christmas presents, and sending her oldest son to a behavioural camp where youngsters spend at least 49 days in the woods with no equipment.
As a parent, I wonder, as do you, how such attitudes and advice can get 2.3 million followers.
What exactly is ConneXions, and who exactly is Jodi Hildebrandt?
At the same time she stopped posting on 8 Travellers, Franke began appearing in another video series, ConneXions Classroom.
ConneXions describes itself as a mental health curriculum and counselling service that is founded on "flawless honesty, rigors personal accountability, and vulnerable humility."
According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the company's creator, Jodi Hildebrandt, is a therapist whose licence was cancelled in 2012 after she reported a patient's "porn addiction" to leaders at his Mormon church.
Franke and Hildebrandt have regularly appeared in videos and podcasts together, most recently on Monday. The two share values-based teachings on topics such as blame, control, and denial, as well as family life observations.
What caused Franke and Hildebrandt's arrests?
According to a police report provided by Santa Clara Public Safety Officer Ivins, Franke's 12-year-old son jumped out the window of Hildebrand's Ivins home around 10:50 a.m. Wednesday.
He hurried over to a neighbour, looking for food and drink. After discovering duct tape around the child's ankles and wrists, a neighbour called the authorities.
The officer stated that the youngster appeared to be very hungry and had "deep cuts" from being tied up with rope.
The child was transferred to a local hospital while police searched Hildebrandt's home. They discovered Franke's emaciated 10-year-old daughter there. She was also taken to the hospital.
Four of Franke's children have been removed into the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services, according to a news release from the Santa Clara Ivins Department of Public Safety.
Both Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested on suspicion of two counts of aggravated child abuse, though no charges have been filed in the local court system.
Franke declined to speak with investigators and wanted counsel, according to the affidavit.
She shared a photo of police officers visiting her childhood house on Wednesday night with the word "Finally," which is set to disappear after 24 hours, according to many news sources who picked up the first claim.
Shari later said she and her family were "overjoyed that justice was served" and that they had "been trying to tell the cops and the CPS about this for years."
Ruby Franke's three sisters, all of whom hold positions of influence in the family, stated in a single post that the arrest "had to happen."
"We have been silent about our sister Ruby Franke for the past three years due to her children." "Behind the scenes, we have done everything possible to keep the children safe," they stated.
"The kids are now safe, which is the number one priority."
What is the most recent news about Ruby Franke?
According to People, Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrand were both incarcerated at the Utah County Jail and were suffering from health difficulties.
According to the publication, Ruby was sent to the block for medical observation on Friday before returning to normal prison conditions over the weekend.
Although the specifics of Jodi's medical problems are unknown, her lawyer informed a judge that she has been suffering from a "life-threatening medical problem that has resulted in hospitalisation" since her detention.
After everything we've read, seen, and heard, I'm left wondering where our society is and, more importantly, where we're heading.