This morning, I found myself inundated with no less than 15 emails about who was responsible for bringing snacks to the high school soccer game tonight. Yes, snacks for high school players. And that’s just the beginning. I also received around 10 emails detailing a change of venue for my middle schooler’s basketball practice.
After sorting through those, I encountered an automated message from the class parent, complete with a link to SignUp Genius, which required me to create an account to volunteer for a teacher’s luncheon. Following that were three emails from the school’s learning management system, each containing homework assignments for my fifth grader and a link to check quarterly report cards. If I wanted to access the high school grade portal, that would involve a completely different login process.
But wait, there’s more. Next came a barrage of updates from “TeamSnaps” and “Ringya,” where I was treated to a delightful thread of 20 “reply all” responses from other parents. Oh joy! Because nothing says fun like contributing to an overflowing email thread!
I think I may be suffering from what I’d like to term “login fatigue.”
Then I made the regrettable decision to glance at my phone. Mistake. My screen was flooded with automated texts reminding me of every single task. Yes, I got it! Granola bars for the soccer team tomorrow, and they’re nut-free! I’m on it!
Finally, I received a text from my son at college requesting laundry money for his university card. Of course, there’s an app for that. Because expecting a 19-year-old to find an ATM and get quarters is just too much to ask in this modern world. What even is cash anymore? It’s all about Venmo now!
But honestly, none of this is enjoyable. It feels like drowning in a sea of technology.
The demands of modern parenting, with all its accompanying apps, portals, and communication tools, have completely overwhelmed my life. I suspect I’m not alone in this. Going without these tools seems impossible, maybe even borderline rebellious.
I know this because I’ve attempted it. I once refused to provide my email to the baseball team mom at a game, telling her, “I get too many emails, so no thanks. You’ll have to contact me another way.” I realize that may have come off as rude, but I was trying to safeguard my mental well-being and stave off email-induced frustration for the entire season. “Just give me a printed schedule for snacks, practices, and games, and that’s all I need.” Can you believe it? A paper schedule that I could add to my planner, and voilà! It’s still possible to manage without the incessant pings and alerts!
For larger families, the burden of managing children’s activities multiplies, with each child potentially having multiple apps for their various pursuits. To make matters worse, each parent receives the same communications yet has their own login details. At the end of the last semester, my partner and I almost considered divorce over our mutual inability to recall the academic portal login, leading to a chaotic argument about the details of my first car. We ended up slamming doors, and still, we didn’t know if our child passed 8th grade math. What a time to be alive!
How did our parents manage to get us to our activities back in the day? How did we survive after school without snacks? I don’t remember my mother even having a wall calendar in the ’80s, yet I never missed a single practice or game. Perhaps her mind wasn’t cluttered by countless tabs, lists, and accounts — she could simply remember that on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I had ballet class. No Goldfish crackers required.
Moreover, I think my children lack a sense of scheduling because they rely on technology to remind them of everything. We have become overly dependent on reminders, and we often find ourselves frustrated when our email (which we now allow bots to handle) fails to sync with our calendars, causing confusion about schedules. Despite all these advanced tools designed to simplify our lives, it seems we still forget the essentials because we’re overwhelmed by a digital avalanche of reminders.
This prompts the question: can we return to using actual paper notes to manage our lives? While we’re at it, let’s bring back the day planner! I propose we reject these planning apps, dig out our Hello Kitty gel pens, and show everyone that it’s entirely possible to stay organized with good old-fashioned pen and paper—no logins, passwords, or accounts necessary.
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Summary:
Modern parenting is increasingly dominated by technology and apps that complicate rather than simplify our lives. From managing sports snacks to school assignments, the reliance on digital reminders and multiple logins creates chaos and stress. Many parents long for a return to simpler methods of organization, where schedules could be remembered without the overwhelming noise of notifications. The challenge lies in navigating this digital landscape while maintaining our sanity.