Parents creating digital footprints
The 5-year-old girl’s birthday was just around the corner so her well-prepared mother planned accordingly. Party, cake, gifts and friends. Check, check, check and check. All the traditional birthday fanfare for an excited young child.
The mother then casually mentioned another item on her birthday checklist that I couldn’t fathom when my own kids were that age — an email account. What? Yes, she created a special email to store photos, videos, and precious remembrances of her daughter’s birthday, as well as other milestone dates and daily happenings.
“Someday I’ll give her the password so she can see all of it,” the mother told me.
“That’s brilliant,” I replied. “I never thought of that.”
Of course I didn’t.
Unlike parents of my generation — and every generation before us — today’s moms and dads are utilizing the magic of technology to create digital footprints for their children to someday stroll through their own childhoods. At some point in the future, whether as a curious teenager or a sentimental adult, they will be able to see everything they experienced. And everything they missed as oblivious kids.
“I think my daughter will someday enjoy looking back on her life,” the mother said.
Of course she will.
Unlike kids of my generation and every generation before us, today’s kids will be able to view countless digital photos and videos of themselves, from their first breath to first birthday to first prom. A beautiful gift awaits many of them in the future — their childhood — illustrated through a gallery of images, memories, text messages, and social media posts.
Wouldn’t you have loved a similar gift from your parents, or their parents, or family members from distant eras? Heck, we feel lucky to unearth yellowed black-andwhite photos of our older relatives as we conjure up what was taking place in their lives at the time. What did they do for their 5th birthday? What was their party like? What gifts did they get? Who attended?
Going back in time even further, our ancestors sat around a glowing fire to share their personal stories and shared experiences. These days, we’re still doing it while sitting around the glowing screen of an electronic device. It’s all about the timelessness of storytelling, from flaming outdoor campfires to flickering indoor computers.
There’s something about shar
beyond just the abortion itself,” Nelson said. “That’s what I fear.”
After learning she had cancer, Nelson said she was faced with a choice of either freezing her eggs or risking chemotherapy, making her infertile. The worst part about the decision, Nelson said, was realizing that a reproductive option was threatened for reasons beyond her control.
“One of the things that impacted me the most was ... I felt like the choice wasn’t between me and my body any more,” she said. “I felt alienated from my own body in that way.
“Just the prospect of mine and my body’s choice being impacted by something beyond my control was so detrimental to me, and I just would never, ever want anyone to feel that same thing.”
While Nelson said she chose to freeze her eggs, the bottom line is she had a choice. Women should have a choice between being pregnant and ending a pregnancy if they want to, she said.
“I feel so connected to anybody feels like their sense of choice has been impacted by something beyond their control, no matter what that choice is,” Nelson said. “I don’t think it’s for anybody else to decide.
“The element of choice and bringing a new life into the world or not is so personal.”
Aaliyah Stewart
Stewart said she found out about the leaked draft while scrolling on social media and that her initial reaction was the decision was unfair.
“In certain cases, if a woman has been molested or something to that nature, they should have the right to be able to determine ‘I’m already going to live with this trauma, but this is not the trauma I want my child to be born in,’ ” Stewart said.
If the draft decision becomes the final decision, Stewart said women “will be forced to live with decisions they are not ready for.”
Women won’t stop having abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned, Stewart said, and she’s fearful of women seeking abortions in a risky manner and becoming infertile or dying.
A woman can seek opinions about what to do with a pregnancy, Stewart said, but it should be her choice on what to do.
Stewart said she has a list of things politicians should focus on instead, like gun laws because “a parent should not have to worry about taking a child to school or going to the grocery store.”
Lawmakers should also focus on equality, as well as gas prices and inflation, Stewart said.
Politicians should focus on “protecting children who are already here instead of worrying about those that haven’t happened,” Stewart said.
“There are so many other things they can worry about and do instead of worrying about somebody having an abortion,” she said.