Heather Barton

Should digital well-being support be treated like a routine public-health service?

Public-health framing can invite moral panic and expensive programs before outcomes are clear. The [2026 well-being findings](https://dig.watch/updates/social-media-linked-to-declining-well-being-among-young-people) are strongest for problematic or very heavy use, not every teenager online. Start with voluntary tools, platform accountability, and rigorous trials. Make routine screening standard only when it improves health without shaming normal behavior.

Should factory farming be phased out within ten years?

My county has two employers: the school district and the processing plant. The plant buys from 40 contract growers, and every one of those families borrowed against their land to build barns to the integrator's specs. A ten-year phaseout strands those loans, empties the plant, and turns my town into another hollowed-out main street. The USDA's own rural data shows how concentrated agricultural employment already is in these regions. [USDA](https://www.usda.gov). Nobody in this debate talks about who pays the growers when the contracts vanish. If you want to end factory farming, buy out the barns, retrain the workers, and show me the plan for the towns. Until then, a phaseout in ten years is a slogan written by people who have never driven past a chicken house at dawn.

my sister has 3 kids and is exhausted, my brother has 0 and is bored. grass is always greener i guess

Lifestyle · Oct 6, 2026 · Is it selfish to choose not to have kids?

The tiny-check cynicism is exactly why payouts matter. Companies count on outrage fading. A hundred million small checks is still a hundred million reasons to stop.

Business · Sep 23, 2026 · Should companies be required to pay customers when they misuse location data?