2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid earns Top Safety Pick from IIHS
2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid earns Top Safety Pick from IIHS
Honda wants a piece of families' hearts -- and driveways -- with its updated 2020 CR-V. Notably this year, the Japanese automaker will sell customers a CR-V Hybrid that returns pretty great fuel economy, even if the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid one-ups it.
But Honda can load up with yet more marketing ammo after the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety named the CR-V Hybrid a Top Safety Pick on Tuesday. The hybrid model's rating mirrors the standard CR-V.
The award means the 2020 CR-V Hybrid met the IIHS' updated and more challenging criteria to earn the award this year. Now the IIHS mandates winners must earn a Good rating in all six crash tests, score top marks in frontal-crash protection (vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian) and offer Acceptable- or Good-rated headlights. The big changes are in the crash-test portion of the safety exam. Previously, winners could skirt by with an Acceptable rating in one crash test, specifically, the passenger-side small overlap test. The criteria for a Top Safety Pick Plus award is even more challenging this year.
The CR-V Hybrid aced each portion and squeezed by with Acceptable-rated headlights. They're standard on every single trim, while the standard CR-V's Touring trim offers Good-rated headlights. Other more affordable CR-V trims only scored a Marginal mark for their headlights, however. As is often the case, the safety award is not a blanket accolade.
Prices for the CR-V Hybrid start at $28,870 after a destination charge. It's slightly cheaper than the most affordable RAV4 Hybrid, but the Honda manages to return 38 mpg combined compared to the Toyota's 40 mpg combined estimate.
Amazon Prime Day camera and accessory deals: GoPro, Sony, DJI, Lowepro and more
Amazon Prime Day camera and accessory deals: GoPro, Sony, DJI, Lowepro and more
This story is part of Amazon Prime Day, CNET's guide to everything you need to know and how to find the best deals.
Amazon Prime Day means some excellent camera and accessory deals if you're a photography enthusiast or aspire to become one. Even in 2021, there are plenty of times it's worth trying something besides your smartphone for capturing memories and getting creative.
There are a lot of discounts in the photography section for Prime Day, but we've pored over the options for the best deals and gear.
Joshua Goldman/CNET
When you spot an action camera attached to a surfboard, ski helmet or mountain bike handlebars, chances are it's made by GoPro, the company that pioneered the market for these small, rugged video cameras. The GoPro Hero 8 Black 4K camera arrived in 2019 and won a CNET Editors' Choice for its value and all-important image stabilization. This GoPro bundle is 26% off and its accessories -- a tripod, head strap, extra battery and a 32GB memory card -- are useful. The batteries are from GoPro, not a third-party manufacturer. The newer top-end GoPro Hero 9 adds some improvements, but the Hero 8 remains a solid, more affordable choice.
DJI
Gimbal mounts use pivots to keep cameras steady -- or in the case of the DJI OM 4, your smartphone. It's 20% off for Prime Day. This is handy for shooting video when you're walking. This model has a built-in battery for 15 hours of use and a magnetic mounting system that lets you easily attach and detach your phone. And motorized Dynamic Zoom and Spin Shot add little cinematographic effects to your video.
Amazon
Rokinon lenses aren't generally as good as higher-end models from better known Japanese camera companies, but they're a lot cheaper. At 48% off, this 14mm Rokinon ultrawide lens for Canon EF and EF-S mount cameras (those full-frame and smaller APS-C sensors, respectively) is an affordable way to try out a new perspective on your photography. It has a 115.7-degree field of view on full-frame cameras and 89.9 degrees on APS-C, and some weather sealing to handle rougher conditions.
Amazon
Lowepro has been making camera backpacks for decades. The Truckee BP 250 LX is designed for tourists, hikers, street photographers out for a day in the city, and anyone else who has to carry a modest amount of camera equipment. It'll accommodate an SLR and three midsized lenses in the bottom padded compartment, a 15-inch laptop in an inside zippered sleeve, a water bottle and tripod in side pockets, and lunch and a rain jacket in the top.
The Best Netflix Documentaries You Absolutely Need to Watch
The Best Netflix Documentaries You Absolutely Need to Watch
Netflix has the best documentaries in the business. Hands down. It might be the best part of the service. But the choice is almost overwhelming. That's why we've made this list: our picks for the best documentaries on Netflix.
Here's how we're breaking things down. We're starting with the latest and best up top, then the rest listed by genre.
Good luck and happy watching!
The Best Documentaries on Netflix
Netflix
Trainwreck: Woodstock '99
Following in the very promising footsteps of Netflix documentaries being leaner, tighter and... better, Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 is a truly horrifying look at what really went on at the notorious Woodstock '99 festival. Quick content warning: Expect to see some truly grotesque discussion of human behavior including rape, looting and arson. This is a truly terrifying watch.
Netflix
Untold (2021)
Untold is the latest from the folks behind Wild Wild Country.
It's a sports documentary series, with each episode going in-depth on controversial sports topics. The first episode focuses on Malice at the Palace, the notorious basketball match where Ron Artest waded into the crowd and wailed on fans back in 2004.
Untold is now in its second season and it is absolute must watch stuff. The new episodes are arguably better than the stellar first season. Maybe the best sports documentary series on Netflix
Netflix
The Most Hated Man on the Internet
Netflix has been on fire with its documentaries lately, and The Most Hated Man on the Internet is the latest. From the producers of Tinder Swindler and Dont F**k with Cats, it's a three-part documentary that tells the story of Hunter Moore, one of the most notorious purveyors of "revenge porn." Definitely worth watching this one.
Netflix
The Girl in the Picture
The Girl in the Picture is the latest true crime documentary from Netflix. It's up there with the service's absolute best work.
It feels like, after a period of needlessly bloated multiepisode documentaries, Netflix has started trimming the fat, releasing lean, incredibly compelling documentaries again. First Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey and Our Father, now this.
The Girl in the Picture tells the story of a young girl, murdered at age 20. To say too much would spoil the impact, but this is a layered, brutal documentary with endless twists. It needs to be seen to be believed.
Netflix
Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey
There are a lot of Netflix documentaries about cults gone mad, but Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey might be the most disturbing of the lot. Unlike Murder Among the Mormons, which almost treated its topic like a screwball comedy, Keep Sweet is a very grim story about a grim human being in Warren Jeffs. It's a fantastic documentary, and among the best Netflix has produced, but it comes with a very hefty content warning.
Netflix
Our Father
As good as Netflix documentaries are, there's been a tendency to drag out true crime into these bloated multiepisode series. Thankfully Our Father is the opposite of that. It's a lean, perfectly executed documentary focused on Donald Cline, an Indiana fertility doctor who used his own sperm to inseminate a ridiculous number of women against their will.
This is an incredible piece, one of those stories that just escalates and escalates to the point where your jaw drops in disbelief.
Netflix
The Staircase (2018)
The true crime documentary genre is utterly saturated at this point, but The Staircase stands out.
Focusing on Michael Peterson and the death of his wife Kathleen, The Staircase is more than just a murder mystery. It's a drawn-out epic that takes place over literal decades, a documentary that follows Peterson and examines his every move, but somehow still remains objective.
It's a good time to watch or revisit this one, since HBO Max has just launched a drama miniseries based on it.
Netflix
Formula 1: Drive to Survive
The absolute gold standard for long-running sports documentaries. Drive to Survive is so good, and so popular, that it's inspired a whole new level of interest in Formula 1, especially in the US. This show is great at elevating the characters that occupy the sport. More shows like this, please.
Netflix
Icarus (2017)
This Oscar-winning documentary is an absolute belter.
Icarus starts out as an expose on the impact performance-enhancing drugs have on sports performance, but a sequence of events drags director Bryan Fogel into a web of geopolitics and conspiracies. To say more would spoil it, but Fogel ultimately has created a documentary that had a very real impact on our perception of sports as a whole. In that respect, Icarus is a literal game changer.
Netflix
Who Killed Little Gregory (2019)
Who Killed Little Gregory is a documentary focused on the horrific murder of Grégory Villemin. It's arguably the best true crime documentary on Netflix. It's about a murder, and attempts to solve that murder, but it's also a lesson in media representation and the horrific sexism Grégory's mother had to face in the wake of her son's murder.
Netflix
The Last Dance (2020)
In 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, Netflix dropped this piece of sports doc perfection.
The Last Dance focuses on the Chicago Bulls during their '97-'98 NBA title-winning season, but really it's a jumping off point for a documentary that tells the life story of its central star, Michael Jordan.
As a result, many criticized it for being a little too Jordan-focused, but The Last Dance was an event documentary that lived up to the hype.
True crime
Netflix
The Keepers (2017)
I've watched plenty of true crime documentaries on Netflix, but nothing has come close to The Keepers. A staggering story, told across generations, that's respectful of the victims, yet compelling throughout.
It's a story about the unsolved murder of Catherine Cesnik, a nun who taught at a Catholic school in Baltimore, but The Keepers goes further than you might expect and exposes a potential coverup of sex abuse allegations.
Michael Putland/Getty Images
Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story
It's almost impossible to overstate how famous Jimmy Savile was in the UK -- particularly in the 1980s. He was beyond a household name, in many ways he felt like an eccentric uncle to the nation.
Which made revelations that he had sexually assaulted hundreds of underage girls and boys all the more horrific. This was a person the whole of Britain had invited into their homes.
Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story does a great job of going through the archives, combining footage that is utterly bizarre in hindsight, and adding fantastic interviews with some of the major players in British TV during Savile's heyday. A fascinating, albeit disturbing documentary. Be warned: This is a difficult watch.
Netflix
The Tinder Swindler (2022)
A documentary focused on Shimon Hayut, aka the "Tinder Swindler," a conman who used dating apps to defraud multiple women across Europe to fund a lavish lifestyle.
A slightly different topic compared to most true crime documentaries on Netflix. Definitely worth a gander.
Netflix
House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths (2021)
One of the more recent true crime documentaries from Netflix, this is a good one.
Focusing on the bizarre deaths of 11 family members in one house in Burari, Delhi, India in 2018, House of Secrets delves into the theories behind of the strangest suicide/murder cases in recent memory. Unmissable stuff.
Netflix
This Is a Robbery (2021)
This Is a Robbery is about Netflix as it gets. A four-part series focusing on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, this is essentially a documentary about an art heist. Remember Evil Genius? (Which is also on this list.) This Is a Robbery is very much in that style. The first episode takes a while to get going, but be patient -- this one has a payoff.
Netflix
Murder Among the Mormons (2021)
Some of Netflix's more recent true crime documentaries have been a bit bloated and... sorta bad?
Thankfully Murder Among the Mormons is a return to form. Definitely watch this one.
Netflix
American Murder: The Family Next Door (2020)
There are a lot of true crime documentaries out there (and on this list) but American Murder: The Family Next Door sticks out.
It tells the story of Chris Watts, a seemingly regular guy who murdered his wife and children. The access to footage is staggering and it's edited and produced in a unique way, using text messages and social media posts to tell the story. It's a horrific reminder of the banal, incredibly common existence of domestic violence.
Netflix
Making a Murderer (2015-2018)
With the swath of true crime documentaries and podcasts that came in its wake, it's easy to forget that the world once lost its collective mind over Making a Murderer. In a lot of ways it created the template that many Netflix documentaries now follow. A real original.
Sports
Netflix
Athlete A (2020)
Athlete A is a great feature length expose on Larry Nassar, the team doctor of USA Gymnastics, who had been sexually abusing female athletes for decades.
Be warned: This one is harrowing.
Netflix
14 Peaks (2021)
14 Peaks tells the story of the Nepalese mountaineer Nimsdai Purja and his goal of climbing all 14 mountains above the height of 8,000 meters (26,000 feet) in one year. It's incredible. Must-watch stuff.
Netflix
Bad Sport (2021)
Netflix might have burned the true crime documentary into the ground, but it's on fire when it comes to sports. Bad Sport is the latest entry into this burgeoning subcategory, and it's awesome. Focusing on strange controversies in sports history, Bad Sport is less about major players doing major things, it's about what happens when sport goes bad, gets down in the dirt. All of these episodes are great. Hoping for a season 2.
Netflix
The River Runner (2021)
The River Runner is sorta like Free Solo for kayaking. Consider that a compliment.
Focusing on Scott Lindgren, a kayaking legend who was a pioneer of the sport, this is a traditional story of an extreme sports star overcoming odds, but it runs a little deeper than that. Fighting against a brain tumor and his own personal demons, Lindgren is a compelling case study. Must watch stuff.
Netflix
Naomi Osaka (2021)
Naomi Osaka has become one of the most famous and talked-about athletes on the planet. This fascinating documentary explores different phases of her career and offers incredible access into the life of a young woman struggling with the pressures of sport and fame. A must-watch.
Netflix
The Speed Cubers (2020)
If you're looking for a slightly more uplifting documentary, you could do far worse than The Speed Cubers, a look at the world of competitive... Rubik's Cubers? It's short, but packs an incredible emotional punch. Prepare yourself, this one might break you.
Nature/science
Netflix
Seaspiracy (2021)
Seaspiracy follows in the footsteps of multiple documentaries focused on the impact of meat eating on the environment. This time the global fishing industry is in the crosshairs. As expected this one has stirred up a bit of controversy from all stakeholders -- PETA, Greenpeace and conservation groups can't seem to agree if Seaspiracy is accurate or fair. Watch it and make up your own mind.
Netflix
My Octopus Teacher (2020)
My Octopus Teacher follows Craig Foster, a filmmaker who spent a year snorkeling and interacting with an octopus off the coast of South Africa. It's a nature film, sure, but it's simultaneously a documentary designed to inspire awe in the viewer. In short, octopuses are incredible. Little aliens on Earth, essentially. This is the story of a relationship between humans and nature, but it's also an inspiring call to action: Don't ignore the wonder that exists all around you.
Netflix
Our Great National Parks
Barack Obama is making a beeline for David Attenborough's job. And we don't hate the idea!
Our Great National Parks is a world-class nature documentary in the style of great BBC shows like Planet Earth. They've nailed it here. If you're a fan of that type of show, this is completely unmissable.
Netflix
Our Planet (2019)
David Attenborough nature documentaries are so pervasive, they're vulnerable to self parody, but Our Planet is -- I believe -- the high watermark. Only Planet Earth, another Attenborough doc, comes close. But I prefer this one.
Netflix
Tiger King (2020-21)
Time may dull its impact, but when Tiger King was first released on Netflix, the entire world couldn't stop talking about it.
Tiger King explores the strange underbelly of big cat breeding, focusing on a cast of unforgettable (and ultimately dangerous) characters. It drags its audience to weird places. Season 2 is now available and while the show has lost a lot of its bite, it's intriguing to catch up with this cast of wild human beings doing wild, completely outlandish things.
Politics/history
Netflix
13th (2016)
13th by Ava Duvernay is a staggering documentary that tells the story of American slavery and its long-lasting impacts, many of which still resonate today.
In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, this should be mandatory viewing.
Netflix
The Great Hack (2019)
In the wake of the Capitol siege, the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica controversy almost feels like ancient history, but that doesn't make this documentary any less important. If you haven't seen it, then watch it.
Netflix
Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal (2021)
Recently released, Operations Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal has a name as long as some of Netflix's recent documentaries. Thankfully, this isn't as bloated as, say, the recent Cecil Hotel doc, but it could still use some trimming.
Operation Varsity Blues focused on the FBI investigation into college admissions that put actress Felicity Huffman into jail. Its director, Chris Smith, previously worked on the Fyre Festival documentary. This isn't quite as compelling, but is still well worth watching.
Sundance
Knock Down the House (2019)
Regardless of your views on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Knock Down the House is an incredible underdog story that cannot be missed. Focusing on progressive female candidates during the 2018 congressional primary campaigns, it's an insightful look at the democratic process. It's an inspiring reminder that we need to fight in order to make the voices of ordinary people count.
Netflix
What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)
Not gonna say much here. Nina Simone is a legend and this is maybe one of the best documentaries I've ever seen.
Netflix
Wild Wild Country (2018)
Overlong and bloated, Wild Wild Country is nevertheless one of the most fascinating documentaries I've ever watched on Netflix.
It tells the story of Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, who attempted to build a gigantic sprawling commune, for what was essentially a sex cult, in the United States. It's a strange story that somehow becomes stranger with age. Much like Tiger King, the story plumbs depths you won't believe. At times it's a slog, but Wild Wild Country is absolutely worthwhile.
Netflix
Five Came Back (2017)
I absolutely adore this documentary. Five current acclaimed directors (including Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola) help tell the story of five famous movie directors from the '30s and '40s who did frontline work during the Second World War. It wraps their legacies alongside the impact of the war itself into a truly compelling story of Hollywood's golden age.
Netflix
American Factory (2019)
An Oscar winner for Netflix, this documentary is the first produced by Barack and Michelle Obama's Higher Ground Productions team.
American Factory tells the story of Fuyao, a Chinese company that built a factory in Ohio that inhabits a now-closed General Motors plant. You have to watch this movie.
Netflix
Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich (2020)
By this point we all have some sort of understanding of Jeffrey Epstein's story but Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich does itself a great service by focusing on the stories of the survivors of his abuse.
The Cinemart/Hulu
Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened (2019)
Hulu also has a great Fyre festival documentary, but I prefer this Netflix one. Unlike many Netflix documentaries, which are stretched and bloated into multipart episodes, this documentary is sharp, direct and solid gold the entire way through.
Mortgage Interest Rates for Sept. 1, 2022: Rates Climb
Mortgage Interest Rates for Sept. 1, 2022: Rates Climb
Some important mortgage rates increased today. The average 15-year fixed and 30-year fixed mortgage rates both grew. For variable rates, the 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage also floated higher.
Though mortgage rates have been rather consistently going up since the start of this year, what happens next depends on whether inflation continues to climb or begins to retreat. Interest rates are dynamic and unpredictable -- at least on a daily or weekly basis -- and they respond to a wide variety of economic factors. Right now, they're particularly sensitive to inflation and the prospect of a US recession. With so much uncertainty in the market, if you're looking to buy a home, trying to time the market may not play to your favor. If inflation rises and rates climb, this could translate to higher interest rates and steeper monthly mortgage payments. For this reason, you may have better luck locking in a lower mortgage interest rate sooner rather than later. No matter when you decide to shop for a home, it's always a good idea to seek out multiple lenders to compare rates and fees to find the best mortgage for your specific situation.
30-year fixed-rate mortgages
The average 30-year fixed mortgage interest rate is 5.95%, which is an increase of 3 basis points compared to one week ago. (A basis point is equivalent to 0.01%.) The most common loan term is a 30-year fixed mortgage. A 30-year fixed rate mortgage will usually have a smaller monthly payment than a 15-year one -- but usually a higher interest rate. You won't be able to pay off your house as quickly and you'll pay more interest over time, but a 30-year fixed mortgage is a good option if you're looking to minimize your monthly payment.
15-year fixed-rate mortgages
The average rate for a 15-year, fixed mortgage is 5.19%, which is an increase of 11 basis points from the same time last week. Compared to a 30-year fixed mortgage, a 15-year fixed mortgage with the same loan value and interest rate will have a higher monthly payment. But a 15-year loan will usually be the better deal, if you're able to afford the monthly payments. These include typically being able to get a lower interest rate, paying off your mortgage sooner, and paying less total interest in the long run.
5/1 adjustable-rate mortgages
A 5/1 ARM has an average rate of 4.42%, a climb of 9 basis points compared to a week ago. For the first five years, you'll usually get a lower interest rate with a 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage compared to a 30-year fixed mortgage. But you could end up paying more after that time, depending on the terms of your loan and how the rate adjusts with the market rate. If you plan to sell or refinance your house before the rate changes, an adjustable-rate mortgage could make sense for you. If not, shifts in the market could significantly increase your interest rate.
Mortgage rate trends
Though mortgage rates were historically low at the beginning of 2022, they have been rising somewhat steadily since then. The Federal Reserve recently raised interest rates by another 0.75 percentage points in an attempt to curb record-high inflation. The Fed has raised rates a total of four times this year, but inflation still remains high. As a general rule, when inflation is low, mortgage rates tend to be lower. When inflation is high, rates tend to be higher.
Though the Fed does not directly set mortgage rates, the central bank's policy actions influence how much you pay to finance your home loan. If you're looking to buy a house in 2022, keep in mind that the Fed has signaled it will continue to raise rates, and mortgage rates could increase as the year goes on. Whether rates follow their upward projection or begin to level out hinges on if inflation actually slows.
We use data collected by Bankrate, which is owned by the same parent company as CNET, to track changes in these daily rates. This table summarizes the average rates offered by lenders across the country:
Current average mortgage interest rates
Loan type
Interest rate
A week ago
Change
30-year fixed rate
5.95%
5.92%
+0.03
15-year fixed rate
5.19%
5.08%
+0.11
30-year jumbo mortgage rate
5.94%
5.93%
+0.01
30-year mortgage refinance rate
5.92%
5.85%
+0.07
Updated on Sept. 1, 2022.
How to find personalized mortgage rates
When you are ready to apply for a loan, you can reach out to a local mortgage broker or search online. When researching home mortgage rates, take into account your goals and current financial situation. A range of factors -- including your down payment, credit score, loan-to-value ratio and debt-to-income ratio -- will all affect your mortgage interest rate. Generally, you want a higher credit score, a larger down payment, a lower DTI and a lower LTV to get a lower interest rate. Apart from the mortgage rate, additional costs including closing costs, fees, discount points and taxes might also impact the cost of your home. Be sure to comparison shop with multiple lenders -- including credit unions and online lenders in addition to local and national banks -- in order to get a mortgage that's the right fit for you.
What's the best loan term?
One important thing to consider when choosing a mortgage is the loan term, or payment schedule. The most common mortgage terms are 15 years and 30 years, although 10-, 20- and 40-year mortgages also exist. Mortgages are further divided into fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgages. For fixed-rate mortgages, interest rates are set for the life of the loan. Unlike a fixed-rate mortgage, the interest rates for an adjustable-rate mortgage are only set for a certain amount of time (commonly five, seven or 10 years). After that, the rate adjusts annually based on the current interest rate in the market.
One thing to think about when deciding between a fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgage is how long you plan on staying in your house. Fixed-rate mortgages might be a better fit if you plan on staying in a home for quite some time. Fixed-rate mortgages offer greater stability over time in comparison to adjustable-rate mortgages, but adjustable-rate mortgages might offer lower interest rates upfront. If you aren't planning to keep your new house for more than three to 10 years, though, an adjustable-rate mortgage might give you a better deal. The best loan term is entirely dependent on your personal situation and goals, so be sure to think about what's important to you when choosing a mortgage.
Tesla Now Wants You to Pay Extra for a Level 1 Charger With Its Vehicles
Tesla Now Wants You to Pay Extra for a Level 1 Charger With Its Vehicles
Historically speaking, when someone has bought an electric vehicle, it's come with a 110-volt mobile charger. It makes sense, right? You might need to charge in an emergency, or maybe you don't have a Level 2 charger at home. Well, like our old friend Bob said, "The times they are a-changin'," because Tesla is no longer including a 110-volt charger with its new vehicles.
This news was reported Saturday by InsideEVs and confirmed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a Tweet. His stated reasoning for getting rid of the included 110-volt charger is that people don't use them. That makes sense when you think about just how long it takes to charge any EV on 110 volts. Our long-term Mini Cooper SE takes multiple days to go from around 10% charge to 100%, and its battery is tiny compared with a Tesla's.
Of course, taking away something that people have gotten used to getting for free is a sure way to get people riled up on social media. In response, Musk tweeted that Tesla would offer the Level 1 charging kit for $200 and make it easy to order along with the car. As of publication, it's not part of the Model 3 or Model Y configurators, though.
Interestingly, Tesla isn't the only company bailing on the venerable old 110-volt wall charger. Kia's EV6, for example, also doesn't include one, but people don't seem as angry about that. That could be down to it being a new model, or -- and this seems more likely -- Kia fans just aren't as rabid as Tesla fans.
Typically, we'd contact a car company for more information in situations like these, but Tesla does not operate a public relations department to field requests for comment.
TikTok Parents Are Taking Advantage of Their Kids. It Needs to Stop
TikTok Parents Are Taking Advantage of Their Kids. It Needs to Stop
Rachel Barkman's son started accurately identifying different species of mushroom at the age of 2. Together they'd go out into the mossy woods near her home in Vancouver and forage. When it came to occasionally sharing in her TikTok videos her son's enthusiasm and skill for picking mushrooms, she didn't think twice about it -- they captured a few cute moments, and many of her 350,000-plus followers seemed to like it.
That was until last winter, when a female stranger approached them in the forest, bent down and addressed her son, then 3, by name and asked if he could show her some mushrooms.
"I immediately went cold at the realization that I had equipped complete strangers with knowledge of my son that puts him at risk," Barkman said in an interview this past June.
This incident, combined with research into the dangers of sharing too much, made her reevaluate her son's presence online. Starting at the beginning of this year, she vowed not to feature his face in future content.
"My decision was fueled by a desire to protect my son, but also to protect and respect his identity and privacy, because he has a right to choose the way he is shown to the world," she said.
These kinds of dangers have cropped up alongside the rise in child influencers, such as 10-year-old Ryan Kaji of Ryan's World, who has almost 33 million subscribers, with various estimates putting his net worth in the multiple tens of millions of dollars. Increasingly, brands are looking to use smaller, more niche, micro- and nano-influencers, developing popular accounts on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube to reach their audiences. And amid this influencer gold rush there's a strong incentive for parents, many of whom are sharing photos and videos of their kids online anyway, to get in on the action.
The increase in the number of parents who manage accounts for their kids -- child influencers' parents are often referred to as "sharents" -- opens the door to exploitation or other dangers. With almost no industry guardrails in place, these parents find themselves in an unregulated wild west. They're the only arbiters of how much exposure their children get, how much work their kids do, and what happens to money earned through any content they feature in.
Instagram didn't respond to multiple requests for comment about whether it takes any steps to safeguard child influencers. A representative for TikTok said the company has a zero-tolerance approach to sexual exploitation and pointed to policies to protect accounts of users under the age of 16. But these policies don't apply to parents posting with or on behalf of their children. YouTube didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
"When parents share about their children online, they act as both the gatekeeper -- the one tasked with protecting a child's personal information -- and as the gate opener," said Stacey Steinberg, a professor of law at the University of Florida and author of the book Growing Up Shared. As the gate opener, "they benefit, gaining both social and possibly financial capital by their online disclosures."
The reality is that some parents neglect the gatekeeping and leave the gate wide open for any internet stranger to walk through unchecked. And walk through they do.
Meet the sharents
Mollie is an aspiring dancer and model with an Instagram following of 122,000 people. Her age is ambiguous but she could be anywhere from 11-13, meaning it's unlikely she's old enough to meet the social media platform's minimum age requirement. Her account is managed by her father, Chris, whose own account is linked in her bio, bringing things in line with Instagram's policy. (Chris didn't respond to a request for comment.)
You don't have to travel far on Instagram to discover accounts such as Mollie's, where grown men openly leer at preteen girls. Public-facing, parent-run accounts dedicated to dancers and gymnasts -- who are under the age of 13 and too young to have accounts of their own -- number in the thousands. (To protect privacy, we've chosen not to identify Mollie, which isn't her real name, or any other minors who haven't already appeared in the media.)
Parents use these accounts, which can have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of followers, to raise their daughters' profiles by posting photos of them posing and demonstrating their flexibility in bikinis and leotards. The comment sections are often flooded with sexualized remarks. A single, ugly word appeared under one group shot of several young girls in bikinis: "orgy."
Some parents try to contain the damage by limiting comments on posts that attract too much attention. The parent running one dancer account took a break from regular scheduling to post a pastel-hued graphic reminding other parents to review their followers regularly. "After seeing multiple stories and posts from dance photographers we admire about cleaning up followers, I decided to spend time cleaning," read the caption. "I was shocked at how many creeps got through as followers."
But "cleaning up" means engaging in a never-ending game of whack-a-mole to keep unwanted followers at bay, and it ignores the fact that you don't need to be following a public account to view the posts. Photos of children are regularly reposted on fan or aggregator accounts, over which parents have no control, and they can also be served up through hashtags or through Instagram's discovery algorithms.
The simple truth is that publicly posted content is anyone's for the taking. "Once public engagement happens, it is very hard, if not impossible, to really put meaningful boundaries around it," said Leah Plunkett, author of the book Sharenthood and a member of the faculty at Harvard Law School.
This concern is at the heart of the current drama concerning the TikTok account @wren.eleanor. Wren is an adorable blonde 3-year-old girl, and the account, which has 17.3 million followers, is managed by her mother, Jacquelyn, who posts videos almost exclusively of her child.
Concerned onlookers have pointed Jacquelyn toward comments that appear to be predatory, and have warned her that videos in which Wren is in a bathing suit, pretending to insert a tampon, or eating various foodstuffs have more watches, likes and saves than other content. They claim her reluctance to stop posting in spite of their warnings demonstrates she's prioritizing the income from her account over Wren's safety. Jacquelyn didn't respond to several requests for comment.
Last year, the FBI ran a campaign in which it estimated that there were 500,000 predators online every day -- and that's just in the US. Right now, across social platforms, we're seeing the growth of digital marketplaces that hinge on child exploitation, said Plunkett. She doesn't want to tell other parents what to do, she added, but she wants them to be aware that there's "a very real, very pressing threat that even innocent content that they put up about their children is very likely to be repurposed and find its way into those marketplaces."
Naivete vs. exploitation
When parent influencers started out in the world of blogging over a decade ago, the industry wasn't exploitative in the same way it is today, said Crystal Abidin, an academic from Curtin University who specializes in internet cultures. When you trace the child influencer industry back to its roots, what you find is parents, usually mothers, reaching out to one another to connect. "It first came from a place of care among these parent influencers," she said.
Over time, the industry shifted, centering on children more and more as advertising dollars flowed in and new marketplaces formed.
Education about the risks hasn't caught up, which is why people like Sarah Adams, a Vancouver mom who runs the TikTok account @mom.uncharted, have taken it upon themselves to raise the flag on those risks. "My ultimate goal is just have parents pause and reflect on the state of sharenting right now," she said.
But as Mom Uncharted, Adams is also part of a wider unofficial and informal watchdog group of internet moms and child safety experts shedding light on the often disturbing way in which some parents are, sometimes knowingly, exploiting their children online.
The troubling behavior uncovered by Adams and others suggests there's more than naivete at play -- specifically when parents sign up for and advertise services that let people buy "exclusive" or "VIP" access to content featuring their children.
Some parent-run social media accounts that Adams has found linked out to a site called SelectSets, which lets the parents sell photo sets of their children. One account offered sets with titles such as "2 little princesses." SelectSets has described the service as "a classy and professional" option for influencers to monetize content, allowing them to "avoid the stigma often associated with other platforms."
Over the last few weeks, SelectSets has gone offline and no owner could be traced for comment.
In addition to selling photos, many parent-run dancer accounts, Mollie's included, allow strangers to send the dancers swimwear and underwear from the dancers' Amazon wish lists, or money to "sponsor" them to "realize their dream" or support them on their "journeys."
While there's nothing technically illegal about anything these parents are doing, they're placing their children in a gray area that's not explicitly sexual but that many people would consider to be sexualized. The business model of using an Amazon wish list is one commonly embraced by online sugar babies who accept money and gifts from older men.
"Our Conditions of Use and Sale make clear that users of Amazon Services must be 18 or older or accompanied by a parent or guardian," said an Amazon spokesperson in a statement. "In rare cases where we are made aware that an account has been opened by a minor without permission, we close the account."
Adams says it's unlikely to be other 11-year-olds sending their pocket money to these girls so they attend their next bikini modeling shoot. "Who the fuck do you think is tipping these kids?" she said. "It's predators who are liking the way you exploit your child and giving them all the content they need."
Turning points
Plunkett distinguishes between parents who are casually sharing content that features their kids and parents who are sharing for profit, an activity she describes as "commercial sharenting."
"You are taking your child, or in some cases, your broader family's private or intimate moments, and sharing them digitally, in the hope of having some kind of current or future financial benefit," she said.
No matter the parent's hopes or intentions, any time children appear in public-facing social media content, that content has the potential to go viral, and when it does, parents have a choice to either lean in and monetize it or try to rein it in.
During Abidin's research -- in which she follows the changing activities of the same influencers over time -- she's found that many influencer parents reach a turning point. It can be triggered by something as simple as other children at school being aware of their child's celebrity or their child not enjoying it anymore, or as serious as being involved in a car chase while trying to escape fans (an occurrence recounted to Abidin by one of her research subjects).
One influencer, Katy Rose Pritchard, who has almost 92,000 Instagram followers, decided to stop showing her children's faces on social media this year after she discovered they were being used to create role-playing accounts. People had taken photos of her children that she'd posted and used them to create fictional profiles of children for personal gratification, which she said in a post made her feel "violated."
All these examples highlight the different kinds of threats sharents are exposing their children to. Plunkett describes three "buckets" of risk tied to publicly sharing content online. The first and perhaps most obvious are risks involving criminal and/or dangerous behavior, posing a direct threat to the child.
The second are indirect risks, where content posted featuring children can be taken, reused, analyzed or repurposed by people with nefarious motives. Consequences include anything from bullying to harming future job prospects to millions of people having access to children's medical information -- a common trope on YouTube is a video with a melodramatic title and thumbnail involving a child's trip to the hospital, in which influencer parents with sick kids will document their health journeys in blow-by-blow detail.
The third set of risks are probably the least talked about, but they involve potential harm to a child's sense of self. If you're a child influencer, how you see yourself as a person and your ability to develop into an adult is "going to be shaped and in some instances impeded by the fact that your parents are creating this public performance persona for you," said Plunkett.
Often children won't be aware of what this public persona looks like to the audience and how it's being interpreted. They may not even be aware it exists. But at some point, as happened with Barkman, the private world in which content is created and the public world in which it's consumed will inevitably collide. At that point, the child will be thrust into the position of confronting the persona that's been created for them.
"As kids get older, they naturally want to define themselves on their own terms, and if parents have overshared about them in public spaces, that can be difficult, as many will already have notions about who that child is or what that child may like," said Steinberg. "These notions, of course, may be incorrect. And some children may value privacy and wish their life stories were theirs -- not their parents -- to tell."
Savannah and Cole LaBrant have documented nearly everything about their children's lives.
Jim Spellman/WireImage
This aspect of having their real-life stories made public is a key factor distinguishing children working in social media from children working in the professional entertainment industry, who usually play fictional roles. Many children who will become teens and adults in the next couple of decades will have to reckon with the fact that their parents put their most vulnerable moments on the internet for the world to see -- their meltdowns, their humiliation, their most personal moments.
One influencer family, the LaBrants, were forced to issue a public apology in 2019 after they played an April Fools' Day Joke on their 6-year-old daughter Everleigh. The family pretended they were giving her dog away, eliciting tears throughout the video. As a result, many viewers felt that her parents, Sav and Cole, had inflicted unnecessary distress on her.
In the past few months, parents who film their children during meltdowns to demonstrate how to calm them down have found themselves the subject of ire on parenting Subreddits. Their critics argue that it's unfair to post content of children when they're at their most vulnerable, as it shows a lack of respect for a child's right to privacy.
Privacy-centric parenting
Even the staunchest advocates of child privacy know and understand the parental instinct of wanting to share their children's cuteness and talent with the world. "Our kids are the things usually we're the most proud of, the most excited about," said Adams. "It is normal to want to show them off and be proud of them."
When Adams started her account two years ago, she said her views were seen as more polarizing. But increasingly people seem to relate and share her concerns. Most of these are "average parents," naive to the risks they're exposing their kids to, but some are "commercial sharents" too.
Even though they don't always see eye to eye, the private conversations she's had with parents of children (she doesn't publicly call out anyone) with massive social media presences have been civil and productive. "I hope it opens more parents' eyes to the reality of the situation, because frankly this is all just a large social experiment," she said. "And it's being done on our kids. And that just doesn't seem like a good idea."
For Barkman, it's been "surprisingly easy, and hugely beneficial" to stop sharing content about her son. She's more present, and focuses only on capturing memories she wants to keep for herself.
"When motherhood is all consuming, it sometimes feels like that's all you have to offer, so I completely understand how we have slid into oversharing our children," she said. "It's a huge chunk of our identity and our hearts."
But Barkman recognizes the reality of the situation, which is that she doesn't know who's viewing her content and that she can't rely on tech platforms to protect her son. "We are raising a generation of children who have their entire lives broadcast online, and the newness of social media means we don't have much data on the impacts of that reality on children," she said. "I feel better acting with caution and letting my son have his privacy so that he can decide how he wants to be perceived by the world when he's ready and able."
Subaru Solterra STI concept revealed, but extra power missing in action
Subaru Solterra STI concept revealed, but extra power missing in action
The Subaru Solterra STI shown at the 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon on Friday likely previews a natural extension to come from the brand's first electric car. But, it may be a poor idea to get your hopes up for more power. Instead, this Solterra STI concept is all about show, rather than go.
Subaru kept quiet about any performance upgrades the Solterra STI features. Instead, "the model inspires Subaru's superior driving dynamics," the brand said. It looks the part, though, with a neat periwinkle blue color and cherry red ground effects. There's an STI wing at the top of the rear hatch and some red accents that look right at home in the multispoke wheel design.
However, a true Solterra STI would hopefully provide a little more punch. It'd do the STI badge a disservice to pack exterior changes without just a little more oomph to go along with it. All of this assumes Subaru will build a production Solterra STI, but considering Toyota showed a BZ4X sports concept, it certainly seems like something along these lines is on the table.
But, if Tokyo Auto Salon fans wanted something spicier from Subaru, they got it. The STI E-RA concept previews an electric race car to come, and the brand rolled out a WRX STI S4 performance and Levorg STI performance concept.
