This morning, I opened my inbox to find no fewer than 15 emails regarding who was responsible for bringing snacks to the high school soccer game tonight. Yes, you read that correctly—snacks for high school athletes. But that’s just the beginning. I also had about 10 emails notifying me of a location change for my middle schooler’s basketball practice.
Next came an automated email from a class representative that included a link to SignUp Genius, instructing me to create an account to sign up for a teacher luncheon. Following that were three emails generated from the school’s online learning platform, complete with attachments of my fifth grader’s homework assignments and a link to access quarterly report cards. And don’t even get me started on the high school grade portal—another separate login process entirely.
Stick with me, as this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Then, my inbox flooded with “TeamSnaps” and “Ringya” updates, where I had the joy of sifting through 20 “reply to all” messages from other parents, plus an invitation to log in and contribute my own thoughts. Oh, the joy of being part of a 20+ person email thread!
Did I mention that I may be suffering from “login fatigue”?
I picked up my phone, and what a mistake that was. My screen was inundated with automated texts reminding me of every little thing. Yes, I know—granola bars tomorrow for the soccer team, and they can’t have nuts!
Lastly, I received a text from my son at college, requesting that I add laundry money to his university card. Of course, there’s an app for that! Because, you know, asking a 19-year-old to go to an ATM and get quarters is just too old-fashioned. What even is cash in this digital age?
But here’s the kicker: none of this is enjoyable.
Modern parenting, complete with its myriad of apps, portals, and communication tools, has completely overtaken my life. I suspect it has done the same to yours. Going without these tools seems nearly impossible—perhaps even a reckless act of defiance.
I know this because I’ve tried. I once refused to provide my email to a baseball team mom at a game. “I get too many emails, so no thanks. You’ll need to reach me another way.” Was that a bit rude? Maybe, but I was prioritizing my mental health and trying to avoid email-induced rage for the next two months. “Just print me the snack and practice schedule, and I’ll be fine,” I told her. Imagine that! A paper schedule I could add to my planner—it’s still feasible to remember things without the constant buzz of notifications.
For larger families, the burden of managing multiple children’s schedules multiplies, as each child might have several different apps for their activities. To add insult to injury, each parent receives the same updates but has to juggle their own individual logins. At the end of last semester, my partner and I nearly ended up in a full-blown argument over our inability to recall the academic portal login and the corresponding security questions we had set. We had a heated debate about my first car, which culminated in slamming doors and uncertainty about whether our child passed 8th-grade math. Aren’t these modern times fantastic?
How did our parents manage to take us where we needed to be, and how did we manage to survive after school without snacks? I can’t even recall my mother having a wall calendar back in the ’80s, and yet I never missed a game or practice. Perhaps her mind was uncluttered by endless tabs, lists, and decisions to make, allowing her to remember that I had ballet class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays—no snacks necessary.
And maybe another key factor is that I actually remembered my own schedule. My kids, on the other hand, seem to lack a sense of time management, largely because they rely on technology to remind us of everything. We’ve become dependent on reminders to the extreme, and we often get frustrated when our email, which we allow bots to read, fails to sync with our calendar, leading to chaos about who needs to be where.
With all these advanced apps designed to help us remember, it seems ironic that we’re still overwhelmed by the sheer volume of digital reminders. It makes me wonder: can we go back to using actual paper notes? Perhaps we should dust off those day planners and show everyone that it is indeed possible to juggle everything with just a pen and paper—no logins, no passwords, no hassle.
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Summary
Parenting apps and digital tools have infiltrated our lives, creating an overwhelming sense of “login fatigue” and constant notifications. While these technologies aim to streamline communication and scheduling, they often lead to confusion and chaos. Reflecting on simpler times, it may be beneficial to return to basic methods of organization, like paper planners and notes, to regain control over our schedules.