According to a recent survey, becoming famous on YouTube is the number one career aspiration for American children. Chinese children, on the other hand, would prefer to become astronauts.

Once upon a time in American history, kids dreamed of jet setting through the open galaxy. Growing up to be an astronaut, a pilot, or maybe the President were popular life goals among school children. Today things are very different. Modern kids have one goal: they want to be YouTube famous.

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The study, conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of LEGO, asked kids in the US, the UK, and China about what they wanted to be when they grew up. The 5,000 children between the ages of eight and twelve picked from five choices: astronaut, musician, professional athlete, teacher, or vlogger/YouTuber.

American and British children overwhelmingly checked the box for YouTuber. Chinese children, however, proved to still be captivated by space exploration, with over half of them selecting Astronaut.

So why do kids want to become YouTube stars nowadays? It all has to do with their role models. Our kids are plugged into the digital generation, spending plenty of their own time watching other kids on YouTube. As they follow these stars, the idea of becoming just like them plants in their minds.

The nature of the study brings up the question of whether American and British children would have answered the same if it had been freeform. In other words, if they had been asked to write in what they wanted to be when they grew up, instead of choosing from a list of prewritten options, perhaps they would have answered differently. Since YouTube is so popular in the US and the UK, it is possible that the children's eyes jumped to that option and they checked it off. It could be that they never considered the profession before the survey brought it up.

We will have to see how many kids grow up to be YouTube stars!

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