“As noted by writer Matt Beard in The Guardian, the latest iteration of teaching kids to accept constant surveillance via holiday tradition is the Elf on the Shelf, a cheerful little snitch whom parents hide in different spots every day in the house. The idea is, the Elf watches what kids are up to, and if they call their little sister a name or steal a cookie from the cookie jar, the friendly household spy will tattle to Santa, who will add them to the “naughty” list. Beware! We agree with Beard that this cutesy, innocent-seeming “tradition” (which actually only dates back to 2005!) communicates to children that someone is always watching them, and that moreover, this is a perfectly normal thing. This should give us pause, and cause us to think carefully about what kind of messages we are sending in our behavior at home and with friends.”
A very interesting take on Elf on the Shelf by the FSF. I thought that maybe this would be going a bit too far telling by the title, but after reading the article, it seems reasonable. Elf on the Shelf is honestly hardly fun or interesting anyways, an barely a tradition. Perhaps we can do much better not only in a free way, but in a tradition that’s actually interesting.