When I was a child, I had a Tamagotchi. I’m quite certain it died within three or four days. For those who aren’t familiar with Tamagotchis, they are handheld, digital pets that were all the rage in the 1990s. On the minuscule screen of the tiny gadget, you would feed the little creature, play with it, allow it to rest, and care for it to keep it alive for as long a time as possible. But the days we had Tamagotchis were simpler times. At six years old, I had enough happening at school, enough parks to play in, enough cartoons to watch to keep me distracted from my little e-pet. There was little reward for caring for it compared to the reward I found elsewhere, and there was no stress from which to flee. Today, things are different. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, our lives have been plagued with dissonant feelings of emptiness and constant stress, specifically for those working from home and trying their hardest to maintain social distancing guidelines in spite of the loosening safety measures imposed externally. We are mostly at home, mostly alone, and…
