Suck it, tie-dye — content creation is camp’s new darling

Remember the good ol’ days when everyone wanted to become a marine biologist?

Well, today’s kids are after a very different job title: content creator.

According to a 2019 survey, nearly 30% of kids ages 8 to 12 said their top career choice was “YouTuber.”

To meet that demand, companies are founding children’s camps that offer programming focused on content creation. And, per The Washington Post, they’re taking off:

• Texas-based Creator Camp is a program for kids ages 6 to 13 that offers camps around subjects such as YouTube, Minecraft modding, creative AI, and filmmaking.
• Classroom Antics in Ohio teaches campers ages 10 to 13 how to shoot, edit, and brand YouTube videos.
• Lavner Education offers online-only tech camp programming in subjects like coding, Roblox, and video production.

And parents are willing to pay up to help their kids chase YouTube fame: Camps range anywhere from $230 to $400 a week.

This trend…

… is set to continue, with Creator Camp alone already attracting 1.3k campers to 11 locations across Texas (and plans to add seven more).

Plus, the hunger for content creation isn’t limited to kids. A survey found that 54% of those ages 13 to 38 in the US want to become social media influencers.

That’s where higher-ed institutions come in: Cornell, UCLA, and the University of Southern California are among the schools that have added programming on content creation and social media marketing.

While kids’ creator camps might be the next big thing, we’re just thankful our awkward phases lived on a flip phone and not on YouTube for all to see.