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[](https://dearchristianparent.substack.com/) # [Dear Christian Parent](https://dearchristianparent.substack.com/) Subscribe Sign in # No Chance for a First Impression ### Smartglasses will erode our ability to extend kindness and mercy to our fellow man [](https://substack.com/@dearchristianparent) [Emily Harrison](https://substack.com/@dearchristianparent) Mar 05, 2026 8 1 1 Share Some of my friends have pretty dark pasts. Alcohol. Abuse. Addiction. Anger. We all know, or are, these types of people. People who were made in the image of God, but broke laws, hurt other people, lied, and cheated. We are a sinful people. It is the gift of redemption and the forgiveness of sins that makes the Christian life so beautiful. But what happens when the life you have lived always haunts you? What happens when those you are in community with see your failures *before* they see your successes? When your reputation is so imbedded in your social group, that try as you might, you can’t break free from it? In many instances people who suffer this fate move away, start fresh, and try again. Thanks to the internet and AI smartglasses, the opportunity for a second chance is disappearing before our very eyes. Online records now track everything from Kindergarten readiness exams to college spring break trips. It is all hiding in plain ~~sight~~ site. I worry that we are subtly restricting our children’s freedom to fail, make corrections, and try again. In some form, this has existed for many years. A bad grade Freshman year appears on your college applications and your acceptance to the school of your dreams slips away. So, we put more and more pressure on students to perform at the highest level academically, join as many clubs as possible, and spend weekends volunteering not in service to others but in service to the college admissions process. We end up with young adults will skyrocketing rates of anxiety, depression, eating disorders (both anorexia and looksmaxxing). And all because the pressure to perform is embedded so deeply in our culture. I’ve been thinking a lot about this pressure and the process of growing up, failing, making mistakes, learning, making more mistakes, and failing some more. As a teenager my mom used to tell me, “Growing up is hard work.” Being a kid today means all of growing up happens under a microscope, or more specifically, in front of a camera. Every choral performance is filmed by audience members and immediately shared on social media with strangers. Every bad hair day gets ridiculed in the comment section. Every paper you write is stored on Google’s Canvas. Every sorrow you share with the school’s guidance counselor is no longer locked safely in a filing cabinet, it is instead stored on the cloud, a permanent mark that will never disappear. A hidden smartphone can produce AI-generated transcripts in real time. First impressions are now mediated by [Meta’s new glasses using facial recognition to produce AI generated summaries](https://tech.yahoo.com/ar-vr/articles/meta-plans-add-facial-recognition-145839054.html). Being “undressed by somebody’s eyes” is now aided and abetted by AI deepfake software that can be shared online with millions. When we look into a someone’s eyes for comfort and understanding, we are potentially staring right at smartglasses designed to record us, opening ourselves up to privacy loss on a scale we’ve never seen before in human history. This can’t be the new normal. Not for us. Not for our kids. **We need a return to the analog.** We need a chance to make mistakes, be forgiven, learn from our errors, and try again. And most of us need more than just a second chance. We need third, fourth, and fifth chances. To borrow from MLK, Jr., we need to be judged on the “content of our character”. We now live in an age where within hours of meeting somebody you can research their entire past. You can make snap judgements, write people off instead of extending forgiveness, judge them by their past instead of their present. The fear of Big Brother is no longer limited to a totalitarian government. ## Can We Just Get a Break? We weren’t created for this. We should be exhausted of it being socially acceptable to record, photograph, and post everything you or your children do. I’m tired of being concerned that simple school, pediatrician, or counselor records will one day be hacked and publicly posted. Whatever the promise of the social internet and online recording keeping was, it’s not worth all this. It is exhausting leaving your house and wondering if you are being recorded by [neighbor’s security cameras](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/02/10/ring-super-bowl-ad-dog-camera-privacy/88606738007/) or your coworker’s iPhone. So, why are we so accepting of it? [](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1656882905378-5c2795cf7733?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHxzbWFydC1nbGFzc3xlbnwwfHx8fDE3NzI3MjgzODB8MA&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=80&w=1080) Photo by [Andrea De Santis](https://unsplash.com/@santesson89) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/) 8 1 1 Share Previous #### Discussion about this post Comments Restacks [](https://substack.com/profile/135723709-nancy-hans?utm_source=comment) [Nancy Hans](https://substack.com/profile/135723709-nancy-hans?utm_source=substack-feed-item) [Mar 5](https://dearchristianparent.substack.com/p/no-chance-for-a-first-impression/comment/223530164 "Mar 5, 2026, 6:52 PM") Liked by Emily Harrison Excellent and no matter what religion everyone needs to read this. [Reply]() [Share]() Top Latest Discussions No posts ### Ready for more? © 2026 Emily Harrison · [Privacy](https://substack.com/privacy) ∙ [Terms](https://substack.com/tos) ∙ [Collection notice](https://substack.com/ccpa#personal-data-collected) [Start your Substack](https://substack.com/signup?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_content=footer) [Get the app](https://substack.com/app/app-store-redirect?utm_campaign=app-marketing&utm_content=web-footer-button) [Substack](https://substack.com/) is the home for great culture This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please [turn on JavaScript](https://enable-javascript.com/) or unblock scripts

Some of my friends have pretty dark pasts. Alcohol. Abuse. Addiction. Anger. We all know, or are, these types of people. People who were made in the image of God, but broke laws, hurt other people, lied, and cheated. We are a sinful people. It is the gift of redemption and the forgiveness of sins that makes the Christian life so beautiful. But what happens when the life you have lived always haunts you? What happens when those you are in community with see your failures *before* they see your successes? When your reputation is so imbedded in your social group, that try as you might, you can’t break free from it? In many instances people who suffer this fate move away, start fresh, and try again. Thanks to the internet and AI smartglasses, the opportunity for a second chance is disappearing before our very eyes. Online records now track everything from Kindergarten readiness exams to college spring break trips. It is all hiding in plain ~~sight~~ site. I worry that we are subtly restricting our children’s freedom to fail, make corrections, and try again. In some form, this has existed for many years. A bad grade Freshman year appears on your college applications and your acceptance to the school of your dreams slips away. So, we put more and more pressure on students to perform at the highest level academically, join as many clubs as possible, and spend weekends volunteering not in service to others but in service to the college admissions process. We end up with young adults will skyrocketing rates of anxiety, depression, eating disorders (both anorexia and looksmaxxing). And all because the pressure to perform is embedded so deeply in our culture. I’ve been thinking a lot about this pressure and the process of growing up, failing, making mistakes, learning, making more mistakes, and failing some more. As a teenager my mom used to tell me, “Growing up is hard work.” Being a kid today means all of growing up happens under a microscope, or more specifically, in front of a camera. Every choral performance is filmed by audience members and immediately shared on social media with strangers. Every bad hair day gets ridiculed in the comment section. Every paper you write is stored on Google’s Canvas. Every sorrow you share with the school’s guidance counselor is no longer locked safely in a filing cabinet, it is instead stored on the cloud, a permanent mark that will never disappear. A hidden smartphone can produce AI-generated transcripts in real time. First impressions are now mediated by [Meta’s new glasses using facial recognition to produce AI generated summaries](https://tech.yahoo.com/ar-vr/articles/meta-plans-add-facial-recognition-145839054.html). Being “undressed by somebody’s eyes” is now aided and abetted by AI deepfake software that can be shared online with millions. When we look into a someone’s eyes for comfort and understanding, we are potentially staring right at smartglasses designed to record us, opening ourselves up to privacy loss on a scale we’ve never seen before in human history. This can’t be the new normal. Not for us. Not for our kids. **We need a return to the analog.** We need a chance to make mistakes, be forgiven, learn from our errors, and try again. And most of us need more than just a second chance. We need third, fourth, and fifth chances. To borrow from MLK, Jr., we need to be judged on the “content of our character”. We now live in an age where within hours of meeting somebody you can research their entire past. You can make snap judgements, write people off instead of extending forgiveness, judge them by their past instead of their present. The fear of Big Brother is no longer limited to a totalitarian government. We weren’t created for this. We should be exhausted of it being socially acceptable to record, photograph, and post everything you or your children do. I’m tired of being concerned that simple school, pediatrician, or counselor records will one day be hacked and publicly posted. Whatever the promise of the social internet and online recording keeping was, it’s not worth all this. It is exhausting leaving your house and wondering if you are being recorded by [neighbor’s security cameras](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/02/10/ring-super-bowl-ad-dog-camera-privacy/88606738007/) or your coworker’s iPhone. So, why are we so accepting of it?