Welcome to the home of Noah Brier. I'm the co-founder of Variance and general internet tinkerer. Most of my writing these days is happening over at Why is this interesting?, a daily email full of interesting stuff. This site has been around since 2004. Feel free to get in touch. Good places to get started are my Framework of the Day posts or my favorite books and podcasts. Get in touch.

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Why is Your Kid’s Face Your Profile Photo?

While I’m not sure I totally buy the explanations offered, the issue of parents (especially mothers) putting photos of their children in place of their own is pretty fascinating to me (along with photos of one’s animals). This particular article focuses on the idea that parents today pay too much attention to their kids, losing their own identity in place of their children. Or, as the author puts it:

Here, harmlessly embedded in one of our favorite methods of procrastination, is a potent symbol for the new century. Where have all of these women gone? What, some future historian may very well ask, do all of these babies on our Facebook pages say about the construction of women’s identity at this particular moment in time?

Again, not sure where I fall on the issue, but it’s something I’ve noticed in the past, spent a bit of time thinking about and am glad to see it brought up. (To be honest the conversation at MetaFilter may be more interesting than the article itself.)

May 16, 2009