martin-dm/E+/Getty Images If you’re an Elder Millennial, then you probably remember Eliza and Smarter Child, some of the OG chatbots. There’s also a good chance that you and a couple friends gathered around a family computer at some point and started “talking” to one of them. But since they were primitive, conversations were bland and repetitive and so you got bored quickly and began trying to shock the program by unleashing expletives in short order. (The poor robot could only politely ask you to stop being rude in return.) Nowadays, kids are still interested in toying around with “AI companions,”...
Can You Really Be Friends With Someone If Their Parenting Style Differs From Yours?
kali9/E+/Getty Images Moms feeling lonely isn’t anything new. In any Facebook group, Instagram reel, or Reddit thread, you can find moms sharing how deeply they want a village — they want friends they can call on a Saturday and invite over for a playdate, friends they can meet at the park with a box of doughnuts and a cup of coffee, friends they can text at midnight when their baby has some weird rash. It’s harder than it sounds, though… and differing parenting styles can be a major issue when trying to find your own village of moms. Of course,...
Did 'And Just Like That' Just Call Out Parents For Using Kid Trouble As Their Trump Card?
Max/Warner Bros. I’ve always known that I talk about being a mom a lot or maybe even too much, depending on my audience. One girls’ weekend when our numbers were split between moms and non-parents, my kid-free friends came up with a code to get out of having to hear us blather on about our kids and their playground infighting. “Who’s up for a kayak?” meant they needed a break from us. I got it then and I get it now. Parenting is all-consuming, constantly at the front of my mind. What I didn’t realize until I watched Season 3,...
Which Back-To-School "Essentials" Are This Year's Stanley Tumblers?
When I texted my 12-year-old niece to ask what the cool kids want when they head back to school, approximately one millisecond elapsed before her three dots popped up, indicating a speedy response on its way. “Everyone wants an Owala,” she declared, and I read it in Miranda Priestley’s “oh, you sweet summer child” tone reserved for when she’s speaking to Anne Hathaway’s Andi. In a world where Stanley cups dominated popular culture just last year and an entire industry cropped up around accessorizing them — bags, charms, straw toppers, and more — it seems the mercurial youth have already...