Margaret Acevedo

Is it selfish to choose not to have kids?

We call sleep deprivation torture when it's done to prisoners, then we expect new parents to do it for years and smile. The first six months broke me in ways I'm still unpacking, I love my daughter ferociously, but let's be honest about the deal on the table: destroy your health, your sleep architecture, and possibly your mind for a few years, on the promise that it's worth it. For some people, totally worth it. For others, looking at that deal clear-eyed and declining is just the sane response.

Should schools teach practical habits for managing social media’s effects on identity and well-being?

I teach juniors, and I promise you a state-mandated 'healthy social media' curriculum becomes a political football by October. One parent's 'managing comparison culture' is another parent's 'the school shaming my daughter's modeling account.' We already watch this fight play out over library books and health class; adding a unit where teachers grade students' relationship with their phones hands every school board a new battlefield. And the evidence that classroom lessons change teen phone habits is thin, because the behavior is driven by peers, not pamphlets. Give counselors more hours and let families handle values. The classroom cannot fix what the cafeteria rewards. It is already happening with other curricula: [school boards have become culture-war battlegrounds](https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/08/21/florida-election-sarasota-schools-democrats-moms-liberty/91389496007/) where debates over books and lessons escalate into ideological fights.

Should movie theaters make phone-free screenings the default?

I worked concessions all through college, and the number one complaint at the podium was never ticket prices. It was the glow from someone's screen three rows down. Locking pouches already work at scale: comedians like Dave Chappelle and musicians like Jack White have toured with [Yondr pouches](https://www.overyondr.com/), and audiences adapted within a single show. The pouch takes ten seconds at the door and unlocks at stations on the way out, so nobody is truly unreachable in a real emergency. If comedy clubs running two-drink minimums can pull this off night after night, a multiplex can manage it for matinees.

I keep flip flopping. The revenue argument is undeniable for football and basketball but what happens to like, the rowing team? Genuinely not sure there's a clean answer here.

Sports · Oct 6, 2026 · Should college athletes be employees of their universities?