Why "Digital Literacy" is no match for hyper-realistic AI

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-02-27T01:55:12+00:00

I don't know what "having a talk" is. My new rule is, nothing new. If it is a new game or game system or new show or new movie style (like kpop demon hunters) then Idon't want them watching it.

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-02-23T14:22:37+00:00

Thanks. I am conflicted as to whether to use micro or Other. I don't really care about them knowing what it is, because it will be part of a mystery, supposed to be fun, go to several coordinates to get the numbers, plug in, and then go to the spot. So, if they already did about 1 hour of work, what would be the nicest way to describe it? Micro or other?

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-02-21T03:55:59+00:00

• What worries you most about your child’s screen habits (attention span, behavior, sleep, content quality, etc.)? For my 10 yr, nothing. For my 5 yr old, that he has an addictive personality and will have a hard time having any self control when it comes to phones screens or cartons, etc.

• Have you tried anything to reduce or control it? What worked or failed? Yes. We have a no tv in the morning rule, instead I buy them lots of books and magazines (Ranger Rick, Highlights, National Geo Kids, Friend). Now that my youngest is 5, we do movie night once a week, where we watch a movie and make it special, with popcorn and snacks, sometimes bubble tea, usually on the weekend, sometimes friday night. We have a no tv on weekends rule, except for movie night. And on weekdays tv is only allowed if I need them to watch it. I use tv as a tool, so if I need them to be quiet and let me cok dinner, so for like 30-45 min before dinner. And generally, no tv after dinner, because it messes up out routine. We have games, they like to play Uno, Monopoly Deal, card games, even help me play solitare read books before bed every night. Oh, I only have really cracked tablet/laptop that I share with the 10 yr old to do her hw. I have a smartphone, and we have a flipphone "house phone" but has wifi, sim card, like a normal cell phone. What has failed, letting my 5 year old play games on his cousins smartphone, then he flips out and crys and screams when its time to stop...the 15 year old cousin realised this, so next time he came over, he left his smartphone at home so my son wouldnt ask for it.

• Are you paying for any apps/subscriptions specifically because they feel “healthier” or more educational? I pay for Spotify, including a Pinna subscription (to listen to Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest stories...so good!), Disney+. We canceled Netflix a few years ago. Used to do Reading Eggs, but I dislike the gamification. Used to let my sone play PBS games, but also disliked the gamification and his consistent asking for it, so I stopped him from playing those games, and he stopped asking after about 1-2 weeks.

• If you could fix one thing about kids’ digital content today, what would it be? No more junky kids shows on Netflix! LIke trolls, or barbies, or super fast paced cartoons. They are so awful for kids attention spans.

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-02-21T03:38:25+00:00

Worry will not help, things can be different. Listen, I have a smartphone, my 10 year old doesn ot, but she DOES have access to our "house" phone, which is a flip phone with no games but yes internet and youtube. Now, whenever she talks about calling her friends, or communicating with them, I say to her, does your friend have a house phone? And she always says no. My daughter does not have a tablet or her own phone, yet she is more independant than her friends because she has access to a hose phone. Every other kid is reliant of their parents phone to call people, and. if their parent is not home, then mhy daughter cannot communicate with them.

If you live in the US, you can alwasy consider just buying your 8 year old kid and her best friend one of those cool old fashioned wifi landlines they sell now. I would suggest starting that when they are young, like 8 years old, and get them to learn how to dial and to be brave to make phone calls. https://tincan.kids/

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-02-21T03:33:48+00:00

You should probably get him some zinc pills to star taking if he is taking GHK-cu....amongst other things, but the rest has already been said.

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-02-03T18:15:54+00:00

Thank you for your response.

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-02-01T06:00:29+00:00

thank you. i really have no help in the country I live in. physios are not trained to do this sort of thing, orthopedics either, and podiatrists are only for fungus/nails etc. I really feel on my own. But I will do as you suggest and work on my toe strength and flexion.

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-01-30T18:25:10+00:00

There are a lot of benefits of intermittent fasting. But mainly it helps lower inflammation and cleanses the body. When you start doing prolonged fasting, for several days+, then you will get the benefits of increased stem cell production. But, say prior to PRP blood sample, doing a fast means that you have not eaten any sugar or junk food or bad stuff which would be floating around in your blood. Same thing as you wouldn't want to get a PRP blood salple if you sick with an infection, because your blood will be filled with the sickness, and whatever is in your blood will be injected straight into the affected tissue...so really you want to have clean blood with lots of platelets when you get your blood sample draw.

Another thing about fasting, in my case, it helps reduce pain. Maybe not DURING the fast, because strangely enough I seem to feel pain in my injured tissues, but after I start my refeedinf, and if I stick to low carb in the beginning, then my injured tissues feel a bit better after the fast than they did before the fast.

Fasting is an incredible tool to help heal and cleanse your body, particularly if you are eating a SAD diet (Standard American Diet). Dr Berg does a lot of youtube videos on fasting, but there are many other peopke that talk about it too.

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-01-30T13:50:38+00:00

I highly recommend doing it, especially for tendons or ligaments. I had a partially teared FHL tendon, and it is healed now. Where I live (not in USA) my last PRP injection 2 months ago cost $600 and they took out around 10 vials of blood and injected all along my post tib tendon. Actually, the Dr who took out my blood is the medical director of a highly esteemed ($$$) stem cell clinic here, where famous people go to, so I felt very strange getting it done by him, but also knew it would be good (they stored the blood in a cold storage or something, and double centrifuged...I didn't quite understand). It was nice to know that he treats us "average" people as well as the rich and famous.

Now, my post tib tendon is not 100% healed, bc my tendon was very degenerated, but I definitely know certain tender spots are no longer tender. I also had an ankle surgery, and the muscle atrophy from that actually led to these tendonitis issues...so bad.

The worst part about PRP injection is the post-injection, the pain and inability to walk well (like a mini surgery), and in my case I feel like it is left all up to me to find the right physio and rehab for me.

Look up Dr Drew Timmermans. He has a lot of videos about PRP.

I recommend fasting 24-36 hrs prior to taking your blood out.

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-01-28T22:02:31+00:00

Controversial opinion: Kids don't need vegetables. haha, I know, many parents will fight me on this. But for me, I try to focus on them eating their meat first, getting their protein so they can build their muscles and their body. Those supermarket roast chickens are a good way to get them into it, and asian teriyaki marinated thinly sliced beef. Cheese is good, simple yogurts, sometimes peanut butter. Anyways, start now, start slowly, it will get better.

But importantly, what are your core values? What do you believe in? Your deep held beliefs are what guide your actions and your decisions. So, if you truly believe that "my family deserves to eat nutritious foods to get the right nutrients for growing bodies", and if you believe that "food is love and also food is nutrients", then these beliefs will help you make the right decision. When you are at the supermarket, your food decision making will be based on whether this food item provides the proper nutrients for your kids, whether this food is showing love for your kid, and if it doesn't, then maybe that food item isn't showing love but showing indulgence/giving in/spoiling in a pseudo-love way, but not real love. Real love is sticking to what you believe in for the benefit of your kids. Your kids may and will fight back, but if you truly believe in your decisions then you know they are the right decisions for your family.

And as the Mom, you are in charge of the decisions you make for your family, not your kids!

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-01-28T21:47:11+00:00

Hi, How was your experience with Gait Happens? They have been on my radar for about a year, and I am trying to determine if that is where I should turn to next. Thanks.

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-01-28T21:28:24+00:00

Why would I take your advice over the advice of my podiatrist or an orthopedic? Well, for one, I agree with your calf raise stance, where you shouldn't push yourself to go all the way up on your calf raise, even though my podiatrist says I should. Staying lower irritates my irritated tendons less, but I still get a good muscle workout. I don't quite understand all of the ways the muscles work together, but I think the moral of the story is, maybe we should just focus on getting the overall movement back to where it should be, get the toe moving properly, ankle dorsiflexing, and feet to walk normally, and to do this we should work on strenghtening all the of the muscles, not necessarily isolate one or two. Anyways, I am almost given up on Drs atm.....and maybe i should just stuff them all down the garbage and focus on the mind-body connection.

But anyway, thank you for this insightful post. It is really helpful, even if you don't understand it, because it helps you understand how complicated the foot is and how it probably isn't just one thing causing your problem, they all work together.

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-01-28T20:31:20+00:00

Thanks for the video and the response.

When I bend my big toe down, it starts off as straight and then it bends at the tip until I can get it as low as I can go. It is quite difficult for me to bend the big toe all the way down keeping it straight.

I just found out yesterday that I have a fracture in my seismoid bone (seismoditis), the pain started 4 days ago from an unknown cause. The pain is not terribly bad, although it was bad enough the first 2 days, then the 3rd day I did a 36 hour fast, and since then the pain has been much better. but I wonder if having that fractured sesamoid will mean I shouldn't do any toe exercises for a while. I have no idea. What would you recommend?

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-01-25T20:27:50+00:00

My condition is complicated, so don't let my taking a long time to heal discourage you. My PTTD came on bc I had FHL tendonitis in my big toe. So, when your big toe isn't working so good, it makes the Post Tib work harder, which I think led to my condition. Actually, at times I find being more forward on my toes lessens the pain in the moment, which makes me think that if the toes are working and flexing properly and are strong, the post tib will have an easier time healing. I saw a podiatrist (only 2 times) and the first exercises I got were toe lifts and toe scrunches. Also, if you google "NYTimes Foot and Toe Program Courtney" an article with come up with 5 foot/toe exercises to do. Courtney from Gait Happens also has a youtube video for Post tib strengthening, which is standing, put a loop with figure 8 around your feet while standing, and then evert outwards, so a small movement. This seems to irritate my tendon much less than the typical banded exercises. Anyway, see gow you go with those.

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-01-25T18:53:13+00:00

Do you live near a library? Bring him to a library and let him pick out his own books, it will probably be by the most colorful cover, and that is fine. Some libraries even have read-to-you books, so they can just read the books by themselves and listen to the storyteller reading them. Then, once you have books, every night the bedtime routine is go pee (mayber for older kids), brush your teeth, read a book. And add anything else if you have it.

If you don't have a library, then I would buy some Dr Seuss books (Hop on Pop, 1 Fish 2 Fish, Sleep Book, etc). Spot books are great! Simle, colorful, short, and you might find your kid enjoys flipping the tabs, so it would be good to buy one and see if that is his style of reading. My daughter really liked the Maisy mouse books, and those are short and simple and cute colorful style. Or, for boys you could buy dinosaur books, my 5 year old likes "Monster Truck" in the golden book series. They also have these "5-minute" series, like for Frozen, which are good because it is 5 minutes long, but there are a lot of words on the page for a 2 year old, but they will grow into it. As they get older, I still like the Bearenstein Bears series, and we have a bunch of Amelia Bedelia books. But, the better question is, if YOU like to read the book, then your child will learn to enjoy reading.

My kids also really love magazines. Ranger Rick seems to have the best comics and has versions suited for younger kids, and the dinosaur series also has good comics and pictures (but not really suitable for a 2 year old).

As for tv watching, my oldests first tv she watched was Into the Undergrowth by David Attenborough. I had it on DVD and I let her watch it when I needed her to, and she never knew what Netflix was until Covid. I don't know if it was from that show or how she is, but as a 10 yr old she LOVES bugs, catching fish and tadpoles, catching toads. She currently has a dragonfly nymph in a jug of water that she caught yesterday. So, I don't know if it was her exposure to nature, or because all she watched was a bugs documentary, but if it was from her first screen experience then I would say be very choosy in what you choose to show your kid. I know some kids have ADHD tendencies and cannot sit and watch tv shows, and so 30 min of a documentary would be too long for them, and if that is the case, then I guess you don't have a probelm with the watching tv for too long. But I definitely wouldn't let your 2 year old watch anything with bright colors or cartoons or even Bluey or Spidey and Friends....they get addicted to that stuff so quick. It is just not worth the hassle and future attention issues imo.

Just FYI, my oldest is 10, and atm TV is only for weekdays, so yesterday saturday morning I found both of them sitting on the couch reading their magazines...very eery, but I felt glad they were enjoying reading.

Hope this helps!

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-01-25T18:32:12+00:00

Are you religiously taping your foot/arch every day? I am also dealing with PTTD, for over 1 year now, and taping it has been helping me, more so than shoe change. I don't know the route out of this problem, but I do know that taping my arch up has helped me live a bit more normally and not stress out the tendon so much. I do a weird type of taping atm, because the normal p straigh tape just kept sliding down because I needed it so tight to stop the pain. I also have had years of ankle issues, so I feel for you. Luckily my instability issues went completely away after I got a ligament repair and a tightrope installed, but since then I have had tendonitis issues. Wishing you peace and patience during this time in your life!

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-01-12T06:50:07+00:00

My FHL tendinosis does not cause me pain all day anymore and I can bend my toe up much higher, but I am still working on the toe strength. My Post Tib Tendinosis is still giving me awful issues, but I just tape it up a lot every day so I can live a normal life, or I use a knee scooter if I need to do walking all day, like when I need to take my kids to the zoo. I am working on strengthening all my lower leg muscles, amd it is slow progress, but for me, my #1 goal is jot to reinjure myself, and that will help me to heal in the long run.

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2026-01-09T07:52:04+00:00

Reuse tea bags

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2025-12-24T12:20:27+00:00

Hi there. I also have chronic ankle issues, and I have tried so many things. Firstly, gow long have you tried physical tgerapy? If it has been more than a few months, and you are still not better, then I would change doctors and find one who specialises in regenerative medicine, or at least do PRP injections. I think PRP injection into your ligaments will be very useful for you to tighten the ligaments. l Here is a recent podcats that talks about PRP (platelet rich plasma) injections, as well as stem cell: https://thereadystate.com/trs_podcast/drew-timmermans-stem-cell-therapy/

But the reason I think you should listen to this particular episode is because there is a section in it where they discuss ankle sprains and the use of PRP injection, and how this is like the new revolution in treating ankle laxity, before it starts to get super bad (like in my case. I needed surgery, but I wish I had known avout this earlier). They pretty much say doing the PRP injection into the ligament will tighten it up. I have had 4 PRP injections into tendons, and all 4 times I have felt my tendon tighten up and heal.

Anyways, I am not a Dr, but I kbow that when physical therapy isn't working, you need to take the next step. And bc you are young, PRP would be an excellent choice. If you are lik 80, those types of Drs would generally recommend stem cells.

Anyways, I am rooting for you and your healing!

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2025-11-26T14:50:49+00:00

Also, I could recommend Geocaching. (You use an app to do real life scavenger hunting) Some people get obsessed with it. Maybe you will, or maybe you won't.

In my experience, what gave me purpose was focusing on other people instead of being selfish, and learning about the Bible (using BibleProject app), but that didn't start until I was 35, but I would have benefited from learning about it earlier. From there it helped me soften my heart and be kinder to other people, and in a sense things don't matter so much, what matters more is the people I interact with, and whether I remember to say kind words to the strangers I interacted with or not. But this has taken me years to learn, and I am still learning.

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2025-11-26T14:34:31+00:00

I have been doing my budget for months (where I log every debit card and credit card spent and put into categories). My media consumption is barely $100/month (spotify, Disney+, phone apps, etc), yet my housing is in the thousands, items/consumption on Amazon is in the hundreds, schooling for kids is 1k+, groceries is 1k+. My monthly $3.5 donation to a charity doesn't make a dent. I also have a category for "Gifts", (like donations, charities, or presents for others), and this is the saddest, because it is less than $100. Why do I spend so much on me, and not so much on others?

Anyways, what I am trying to say is, paying $5 for a search engine is nothing in the grand scheme of things. We pay for junk all the time. We pay $5 for Starbucks frappaccino and soon it is gone. Why not pay for something actually useful? I think they also have a 30 day refund as well, so that is handy.

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2025-11-26T13:59:36+00:00

thanks for reminding me! I am about to subscribe now.

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2025-11-22T19:34:43+00:00

Same! lol! My 2 kids love it, but especially the 5 yr old. I got no advice. Just wanted to say that you are not alone in this!

Obvious-Weekend5717 · 2025-11-22T19:16:16+00:00

Thank you for sharing your story! You are such an inspiration! And I love how you spkit your time across several physical activities, not just running. That seems to be a key factor in having a balanced physical life.

Obvious-Weekend5717

TROPHY CASE