I never sit down to write anything personal unless I know the subject is going to go beyond my own experience and address something larger and more universal. Meghan Daum addressexperiencelarge Change image and share on social
We use our gadgets for distraction and entertainment. We use them to avoid work while giving the impression that we're actually working hard. Meghan Daum avoiddistractionentertainment Change image and share on social
Because of social media, we have a lot of personal essays floating around; you see them on Facebook: everyone's either reading them or writing them. Some of them are great; some of them are diary entries put forth as essays. Meghan Daum diaryentryessay share on social
My goal is to invite readers to think along with me and draw their own conclusions. Meghan Daum conclusiondrawgoal Change image and share on social
Just as I never liked bumper stickers - even though I do brake for animals, and if I had a kid, she would definitely be an honor student - I don't like the idea of expressing my views through social-media-controlled rainbow-or-anything-else-ification. Meghan Daum animalbrakebumper share on social
Not everyone in Santa Monica is a well-heeled, juice-cleansing, Prius-driving yogini, but for better or worse, that is the city's dominant chord. Meghan Daum badlychordcity Change image and share on social
When I made my final reckoning with the decision not to have kids, I also decided that I would use at least some of my extra time to better the lives of kids who are already here. Meghan Daum decidedecisionextra Change image and share on social
For my part, if I'm working while flying, I'm often a bit relieved to be forced to shut down the computer on final descent. But I guess I'm a slacker. Meghan Daum bitecomputerdescent Change image and share on social
It's great that Time is moving in the direction of validating those who, by choice or circumstance, will never be parents. But the point is not simply that society should stop judging those of us who don't have children. It's that society actually needs us. Children need us. Meghan Daum childchoicecircumstance share on social
Quitting Facebook would be like partially erasing myself. Quitting Twitter would constitute further erasure. Pretty soon, I'd be invisible. I was never on Instagram or Tumblr, which I guess means I never completely existed in the first place. Meghan Daum completelyconstituteerase share on social