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https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/nov/18/my-child-is-at-camp-and-my-phone-pings-nonstop-with-photos-does-anyone-really-want-this>
"At 7am on a Wednesday I drop my child off for a two-night school camp. The
first big school camp. Children carry their pillows under their arms and drag
behind them suitcases whose wheels and weight they can barely manage. They’re
nervous. Excited. Some cry. By 7.45am they have loaded their bags. Through the
coach’s tinted windows I can see that my daughter has settled in next to her
friend so I wave goodbye and head to work.
Before 10am my phone pings. Parents had been asked to download an app so the
school can communicate during the days away. There are 10 pictures of the class
packed on a ferry and arriving at camp in a post on the app. I feel relief. I
had been anxious about the bus arriving safely – even though I knew it to be
irrational – and it is comforting to see my child buffeted by friends, smiling
at the camera.
Soon the phone pings again. And again. And then again. By the end of the day
I’ve received 20 posts, each consisting of up to 10 photographs, which I come
to assume is the maximum.
By midday the next day there are 12 more posts.
As my day is punctuated by post after post – not just from camp, but from
after-school care, from my other child’s school day – I keep unlocking my
phone. I swipe through carousels of pictures of children at play, scanning for
mine, confirming they are safe and happy. It’s a continuous chronicle of the
childhood happening away from my physical oversight.
Does anyone really want this?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
