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of relentless screen exposure on brain development: “Less ability to focus on the normal, the baseline, including states of observation, contemplation, and transitions from which ideas spark—what many under the age of twenty now consider a void, proclaiming boredom . . . On a biological as well as a cultural level, such brain state changes affect learning, socialization, recreation, partnering, parenting, and creativity—in essence all factors that make a society and a culture. The neurophysiological processes that regulate mood and behavior are deregulating.”[13] She understands digital media’s appeal to well-meaning parents, namely that it acts “as a stress and fatigue mediator.” Engaging with it requires little or no pre-planning—it “is instantly available, and provides parents, caretakers, and even educators with much-needed moments of respite and solace.” Here we have a case of the solution to one dilemma fueling another. These forms of relief, understandable as they are in these wickedly stressful times, have a cost—and it is our children who pay the lion’s share. As in marketing, the people who invent and propagate these technologies are conscious of the problematic nature of their wares, and even take it to heart—when it comes to their own children, that is. A 2019 Business Insider article details how many major Silicon Valley executives—including founders and CEOs of Apple, Google, and even the explicitly kid-targeted Snapchat app (!)—go to concerted lengths to limit their own kids’ screen time at home.[*][14] Tellingly, the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs forbade his young children to play with the then newly launched iPad. Is it all bad news? Of course not; nothing is that simple. Ellen Friedrichs, a Brooklyn-based health educator who works with a diverse array of young people, notes that for some of her students, “the internet has been a lifeline. For that queer kid living in some small town, in a religious community where they have to sit through a homophobic sermon every Sunday . . . you can go online and find ‘your people’ in a way that you never could.” Nor is the “lifeline” solely for marginalized youths. As I write this, for the past year and counting, my primary contact with family, friends, and students worldwide has been via a computer screen. Most of us living through the COVID-19 crisis have newfound appreciation for how technology can promote