Bethany, a mother of three children under the age of four, gave up social media for Lent this year. She had done social media sabbaticals for a weekend or a few days, but staying off social media for 40 days was a whole new experience. After 40 days, Bethany felt…

Last week, one of my oldest friend’s father passed away. This friend and I attended elementary, middle, and high school together; we knew each other’s families well, and I remember her father as a constant presence, full of energy and passion. When I heard that her father had passed on…

I haven’t consistently used social media since 2017, when I took a yearlong sabbatical that broke me of my habit. My social media addiction got particularly bad after the 2016 election, when my use of social media — specifically Facebook — sky-rocketed. It was as if I was clinging to…

Dear world, You’ve gone crazy in the past few weeks.I’m looking forward to the day when the coronavirus takes a major chill pill. In the meantime, I’ll continue to have dance parties by myself and do more (anti-)stress baking. With love, your quarantined friend – Carmella In the age of…

Not sure about the rest of you, but my mind has been pretty preoccupied with the COVID-19 these last few days. Perhaps it’s because I’m pregnant, or because my spouse is traveling abroad at the moment. Or maybe it’s because the news around the virus has been downright frightening (and…

A few days ago, my husband and I switched phones for half the day. We didn’t do it on purpose, but it ended up being a funny little experiment. We’re staying at my father’s house, which doesn’t have Wi-Fi, and the personal hotspot function doesn’t work on my phone. I…

I was leafing through TIME magazine on Sunday when I came across a short article by James Wallman entitled “Do You have Enough Time?” Wallman writes that we have more free time now than we have had historically, but our cell phone addictions are one reason why it doesn’t feel…

A Little Struggle Never Hurt Nobody When my husband and I moved to Puerto Rico, we purposefully chose a neighborhood in San Juan that’s close to his office. As a plus, this neighborhood happens to be near the beach, several supermarkets, and an array of hipster hangouts (coffee shops, yoga studios, “cake studio,” etc.). We vacillated…

Nowadays, there are so many ways to be friends. We’re friends IRL. (In Real Life) We’re friends on Facebook. We follow each other on Twitter and Instagram. We’re connected on Tumblr, Snapchat, WhatsApp, ETC! So, what happens when a friendship turns south? Now we have endless social media networks to…