Responsive to Stimuli

For those who came of age before the internet, the right to be forgotten was an unrecognized privilege. But now that the possibility of an analog childhood has all but been erased, the question of how to reconcile a parent’s right to share content about their children online with a child’s right to develop their own digital identity has raised the eyebrows of advocates for child privacy. Parents should avoid posting photos and videos of their children until they reach the “digital age of consent,” which is currently at age 13. However, I support the proposal that the age should be raised to 16 years old, per the PROTECT (Kids) Act that has been introduced to Congress. While parents have a right to freedom of speech and posts of their children are presumably well-intentioned, this point-of-view does not consider the long-term, psychological and societal effects of “sharenting.”  What happens to a child when they live under the expectation that their lives are tracked and documented cons

  Get out of your pajamas and into an actual outfit, but nothing with a zipper, button or collar. Turn on the TV, sit in front of it with your laptop and all your resources and apps open. Write one sentence per hour. Panic after 4 hours, wondering why you only have a paragraph’s worth of work. Take regular breaks -- a quick walk around the block, work out, throw a load of laundry in while you spiral out of control on Amazon. Lean into the urgency of finding the perfect dish drying rack to replace the current one that’s working perfectly fine. Put your phone on “do not disturb.” Place it right next to your hand. Check it often to make sure you’re not missing any notifications due to the “do not disturb.” Find a good playlist for studying or focused work. Spiral into the sadness and beauty of life as you become overwhelmed by the lyrics and dramatic crescendos of the songs. Get up and stretch, which will inspire you to research free workout apps for the next hour.  Go to the bathro

Being a first generation child who then becomes a parent is an interesting experience. It makes you particularly reflective about your own upbringing, mostly because as a child of immigrants, life can be pretty frugal and focused on making sure your life will never be as terrible as your parents’ life in the motherland, and quite frankly, as an “other” in the US. That manifests into the stereotypes we’ve all heard before: A laser focus on getting exceptional grades, guilt, frustration, constant feelings of failure, never wasting money, eating out, and on the rare occasion you do go to a restaurant, never, ever ordering anything but water with your meal. Even on special occasions, you should always know you’re living on razor-thin margins. Now that I have privileged American children who have never known the frugality and emotional distance of immigrant parents, their ignorance over everyday luxuries and whining about perceived injustices are particularly comical and grating.  Friday is