Published February 02, 2026 | By Alyx E, Founder of Collectors MD

Some lines cannot be ignored once they’ve been crossed. What’s been unfolding in the modern hobby lately isn’t just something uncomfortable or chaotic that can be brushed off as inconsequential “drama”. What we’re seeing is deeply concerning. Sirens should be blaring for hobby stakeholders.

As of late, we’ve seen children hosting live shows on public streaming platforms, handling real money, interacting with anonymous adults, and being exposed to environments that are volatile, unregulated, and often unforgiving. That should stop all of us in our tracks and demand serious reflection.

This isn’t about talent or entrepreneurship or “kids being ahead of their time”. These are high risk environments built for adults, optimized for speed, pressure, and emotional manipulation. When children are deployed into those systems without guardrails, they don’t become empowered. They become vulnerable.

What’s especially disturbing is the lack of oversight. Where are the age gates? Where is the platform accountability? Where is the parental supervision? Where are the safeguards that recognize that live chat, financial transactions, and parasocial dynamics create a perfect storm for exploitation?

Kids don’t have the cognitive defenses adults barely manage to build. They don’t have the emotional distance to separate attention from approval, money from worth, or risk from reward. When exposure comes before protection, it doesn’t teach resilience. It teaches survival patterns they never should have needed.

Let’s be brutally honest about what’s at play here. These kids aren’t just selling cards. They’re being watched, critiqued, baited, and attacked. They’re being mocked by trolls, targeted by predatory adults, and pressured to perform for engagement. That’s not character building. That’s exposure to real harm.

Children are still developing their sense of identity, boundaries, and self worth. Their brains aren’t fully formed. Their ability to process risk, rejection, and manipulation is limited. Dropping them into a live, monetized environment with anonymous adults is not neutral. It’s recklessly irresponsible.

None of this means the hobby is broken beyond repair. It means we’re being challenged to hold ourselves accountable.

Protecting the youth doesn’t mean banning kids from enjoying a hobby that’s been around for centuries. It means drawing firm lines around who profits, who moderates, who supervises, and who is responsible. It means acknowledging that modern platforms and technologies change the risk landscape in real ways – especially for kids. It means recognizing that some spaces simply aren’t appropriate for children without heavy structure and adult supervision. It means choosing long term health over short term hype.

If we care about the future of this hobby, we have to care about the kids inside it. Not as content. Not as novelties. Not as engagement tools. As children. Doing better isn’t a moral flex. It’s a responsibility.

#CollectorsMD
For a hobby to grow, protecting the youth has to be non-negotiable part of the process.

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Published January 04, 2026 | By Alyx E, Founder of Collectors MD

As I read today’s CLLCT article asking industry leaders what they’d change about the hobby, I found myself nodding along. More transparency. Fewer conflicts of interest. Cheaper wax. Better access. Stronger education. More in-person connection. All valid. All necessary. And all pointing toward the same underlying truth.

The biggest issue in collecting today isn’t a single product, platform, or policy—it’s the culture we’ve normalized around speed, scale, and optimization at all costs.

The hobby didn’t become unhealthy overnight. It evolved—quietly—as friction was removed at every step. Ripping got faster. Buying got easier. Grading became default. Market prices became scoreboards. Somewhere along the way, intention got replaced by momentum. And for many collectors, the joy of collecting slowly turned into pressure to keep up.

That’s why so many of the changes experts want to see aren’t really about mechanics—they’re about restraint. Slowing things down. Making space for thought. Re-centering why people collect in the first place.

Protecting the integrity of the hobby means putting people first and building spaces where intention can survive the pressure for more.

At Collectors MD, we see the downstream effects every week. Collectors asking how to stop spending. Families trying to make sense of losses that spiraled faster than anyone could intervene. People often realizing too late that what started as fun had quietly become compulsive. None of that happens because someone lacks discipline—it happens because they’re human inside systems engineered to push harder when vulnerability shows up.

And yet, the hobby often keeps moving as if this reality doesn’t exist.

This isn’t about blaming companies or shaming collectors. It’s about acknowledging that when growth, hype, and volume become the primary incentives, responsibility has to be intentional—not assumed. Safeguards don’t weaken the hobby. They protect the people inside it. Transparency doesn’t reduce excitement. It preserves trust. Education doesn’t kill fun. It sustains it.

The most powerful answer to the question, “what would you change about the hobby?” isn’t a single feature or reform. It’s a shift in mindset.

From extraction to stewardship. From volume to intention. From constant escalation to conscious participation.

Collecting doesn’t necessarily need to be slower for everyone. It needs to be safer for those who need a pause. It needs visible off-ramps. It needs language that normalizes stepping back. And it needs leaders—across platforms, brands, and communities—willing to say that long-term health matters more than short-term wins.

That’s how the hobby grows without losing itself.

#CollectorsMD
A hobby built to last must care for the people who carry it forward.

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