The Cringiest Parenting Texts of the Week (October 24, 2023)

Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor

Oct 24, 2023 1:00 PM EDT

I miss the days when you couldn't communicate deeply over text. You could tell someone you were on your way; you could say "good morning" and "good night," but that was about as deep as it went. It was recently revealed in the media that Justin Timberlake broke up with Britney Spears over text, which sounds very unusual for the time period when they were dating. I remember how hard it was to text back then. You had to hit those numbers so many times to get the letters you wanted, and it didn't particularly inspire me to write any long, dramatic paragraphs.

These days, texting is easier than ever. I could literally copy and paste War and Peace and send it to my loved ones with little effort involved. Unfortunately, not everyone uses this accessible technology for good. Some people use it to badger their children in unusually unkind ways. These cringey parenting texts epitomize that phenomenon to its extreme.