iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

amanda hess @amandahess.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I wrote about Bernadine Bluntly, a tradwife who lived with her husband and six children in an off-grid tiny home until last year, when she snuck down the gravel path to the highway, called the police, and got a restraining order. Now she's an ex-trad infuencer: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/s...

nytimes.com

Bernadine Bluntly’s Brand Was Tradwife. Then She Got Divorced.

What happens when a trad influencer leaves her husband, questions her beliefs, stops selling anti-feminism T-shirts — and still needs to make a living online?

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Megan Greenwell @greenwell.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Dolly Parton, an idol to all sickos who love to work (as quoted in Ms. Magazine 40 years ago, via @amandahess.bsky.social)

So I feel that I’m wiser now. I’ve got big plans for the next 49 years. Big, big plans, and I feel like now I’m comfortable enough, but still hungry enough to work hard on a lot of the dreams that have not [yet] come true. And that’s excitement; I love that! I love to work.

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Maris Kreizman @maris.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

This is on Wednesday night at The Strand. Would love to see you!!

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Maris Kreizman @maris.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

PAPERBACK LAUNCH INFO: I've enlisted 2 friends, both sensational journalists, who had books come out around the same time as mine. Can't wait to talk to them about what the world is like a year later. ❤️‍🔥 @greenwell.bsky.social @amandahess.bsky.social www.strandbooks.com/maris-kreizm...

strandbooks.com

Purchase a Ticket for Event Maris Kreizman + Special Guests: I Want to Burn this Place Down | Strand Books

Join us at Strand Books for Maris Kreizman + Special Guests: I Want to Burn this Place Down event. Discover author talks, book signings, and unique literary experiences.

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Phillip Maciak @pjmaciak.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

I've already written about how good @amandahess.bsky.social's SECOND LIFE is, but, trust me: it's good. Not just a great book about motherhood, but a great book about being a person who is (also) online. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/721361...

penguinrandomhouse.com

Second Life by Amanda Hess: 9780593470343 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

The debut memoir from beloved New York Times critic Amanda Hess chronicles the convergence of parenthood and technology. “Second Life is a tender, perceptive account of pregnancy and early motherhood...

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Jane Rosenzweig @janerosenzweig.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Don't miss this article by @amandahess.bsky.social on the "Love Symposium" where founders discussed the latest trends in AI matchmaking. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/s...

With an assist from A.I., he said, “you can effectively separate private value from common value, which will allow the human mating market to go from zero sum to positive sum for the first time in human history, which could unlock untold human well-being and happiness.”

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Isabel Davis @drbeldavis.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

My review of @amandahess.bsky.social book 'Second Life' in the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social This is a thoughtful and important book about digital pregnancy and motherhood. Have you read it? What did you think?

Screenshot of my review on the LA Review of Books' website, showing a picture of the cover of Amanda Hess's book, 'Second Life'.

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Jess Zimmerman @jesszimmerman.com · 22/12/2025

Favorite nonfiction: Second Life, @amandahess.bsky.social Sucker Punch, @scaachi.bsky.social Replaceable You, Mary Roach Tell Me How You Eat, Amber Husain (forthcoming)

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Doubleday Books @doubledaybooks.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

“Hess accepts that we are all, now, dwellers in ‘the digital age,’ and she navigates that landscape with humor and nuance.” @newrepublic.com names SECOND LIFE by @amandahess.bsky.social one of the best books of the year newrepublic.com/article/2041...

newrepublic.com

The New Republic’s Books of the Year 2025

A far from exhaustive guide to the books that our critics dissected, debated, and most admired this year.

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Lizzie O'Leary @lizzieohreally.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

other stunners: Second Life, by @amandahess.bsky.social and Empire of AI by @karenhao.bsky.social. I read a lot of nonfiction. I'm sure I'm forgetting books - I have to make a full list, but it takes some compiling. I am not one of those people who diligently tracks.

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Pete Tucker @petetucker.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

“I used to be a good MSNBC liberal that libbed out and bought into all of that… [But] when you lose a political race two times to a moron, you really have to go, ‘OK, what in the actual fuck is going on?’” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/07/s...

nytimes.com

Is This Former Bravo Star Democrats’ Toughest Critic?

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Lizzie O'Leary @lizzieohreally.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

I can’t stop thinking about how terrified this little boy must be. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/07/n...

nytimes.com

Hundreds Rally for Boy, 6, Who Was Separated From His Father by ICE

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amanda hess @amandahess.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

I profiled @mizzwelch.bsky.social, who wakes up at 5 a.m., calls out Democratic leaders to their faces, then runs her own interior design empire—with comments from @rahmemanuel.bsky.social @booker.senate.gov @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social and her country club tennis bud www.nytimes.com/2025/12/07/s...

nytimes.com

Is This Former Bravo Star Democrats’ Toughest Critic?

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amanda hess @amandahess.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

I reviewed BARBIELAND by Tarpley Hitt, a book about scheming doll people, which I loved www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/b...

nytimes.com

From Dreamhouse to Nightmare? The Real Barbie Story Is Dark.

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Doubleday Books @doubledaybooks.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

"How seductive it can be not only to explain something, but be able to blame someone." - @amandahess.bsky.social, author of SECOND LIFE, talks pregnancy, anxiety and expectations of parenthood: maternalstressproject.substack.com/p/the-danger...

maternalstressproject.substack.com

The danger lurking in the “ambient expectations of motherhood”

Exploring the intersection of maternal self-sacrifice, ableism-fueled fears, and blame-heavy messaging with author Amanda Hess

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Phillip Maciak @pjmaciak.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

I saved SECOND LIFE by @amandahess.bsky.social for vacation reading, and it is fully extraordinary. It’s not just for people who have kids — it’s for people (all of you reading this now) who live on the internet. Nobody writes about that weird intimacy like she does. bookshop.org/p/books/seco...

bookshop.org

Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age

Having a Child in the Digital Age

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Jess Zimmerman @jesszimmerman.com · 11/08/2025

I’ve been a fan of @amandahess.bsky.social since the late 2000s and basically forced her to be friends with me and if her columns hadn’t already vindicated that choice her book sure did! I read it on the plane which does make crying easier but I was crying AND laughing the whole time

penguinrandomhouse.com

Second Life by Amanda Hess: 9780385549738 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

“Hess’s debut memoir bursts with humor and intelligence as it weaves the story of her own pregnancy....This unexpected page-turner is as vulnerable as it is sharp.” —Vulture As...

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Meredith Shiner @meredithshiner.com · 21/08/2025

Second Life by @amandahess.bsky.social I feel like every Gen Z and millennial woman should be required to read it

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Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

"At a party held to announce the findings, a knife sliced through a layer of frosting to reveal the fleshy gender inside. A pregnant woman beat a piñata until its gender spilled out. A father-to-be pulled the trigger and rained gender across the range." Amanda Hess' "Second Life" is so good.

SECOND LIFE
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mechanisms for spreading the news. They colluded with a doctor, sealed the sex report in an envelope, and arranged for the message to be delivered to a baker, a party outfitter, or a novelty arms dealer. At a party held to announce the findings, a knife sliced through a layer of frosting to reveal the fleshy gender inside. A pregnant woman beat a piñata until its gender spilled out. A father-to-be pulled the trigger and rained gender across the range.

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency. "Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die" Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:

Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die
July 21, 2025

AFP has been working with 1 writer, 3 photographers and 6 videographers, all freelance, in the Gaza Strip since its staff journalists left in 2024.

Along with a few others, they are now the only ones left to report what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The international press has been banned from entering the territory for nearly two years.

We refuse to watch them die.

One of them, Bashar, has been working with AFP since 2010, first as a fixer, then freelance photographer, and since 2024, as lead photographer. On July 19th he managed to post a message on Facebook: “I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can’t work anymore.”

Bashar, 30, works & lives in the same conditions as all Gazans, moving from one refugee camp to another under Israeli bombings. For > a year he’s lived in utter destitution, working at extreme risk to his life. Hygiene is a major issue for him, with recurring bouts of severe intestinal illness.

Since Feb, Bashar’s been living in the ruins of his home in Gaza City with his mother, 4 brothers & sisters and the family of one of his brothers. Their house is devoid of any furnishings, except a few cushions. On Sunday morning, he reported that one of his brothers had “fallen, due to hunger.”

Even though these journalists receive a monthly salary from AFP, it’s no longer enough to buy food, or they have to pay completely exorbitant prices. The banking system has collapsed, and those who exchange money via online bank accounts charge a commission of up to 40%.

AFP no longer has the ability to provide them with a vehicle and there is not enough fuel to allow these journalists to travel for their reporting. Driving a car means becoming a target for Israeli airstrikes. AFP reporters therefore travel on foot or by donkey cart. (alt txt continued in next post)

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WIRED @wired.com · 21/07/2025

Attempting to eliminate funding for certain kinds of “woke” studies, the Trump administration erased hundreds of millions of dollars being used for cancer research. www.wired.com/story/how-tr...

wired.com

How Trump Killed Cancer Research

Attempting to eliminate funding for certain kinds of “woke” studies, the Trump administration erased hundreds of millions of dollars being used for cancer research.

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amanda hess @amandahess.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

come talk about true life with us!

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mollyfication.bsky.social @mollyfication.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

It was a huge pleasure to interview @amandahess.bsky.social ‪ for @onthemedia.bsky.social about her book, Second Life. Her book is such a thoughtful and incisive look at how technology has infused so many parts of pregnancy and parenthood today. Take a listen! www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm...

wnycstudios.org

Having a Child in the Digital Age | On the Media | WNYC Studios

In Amanda Hess' new book, Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age, she explores the many apps, megamaternity brands, high-tech baby gear, and social media subcultures that hav...

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The Longest Shortest Time @longestshortest.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

⭐ NEW EP ⭐ Loved talking to the wonderful @amandahess.bsky.social abt her unexpected, eerie bond w/her fertility app during pregnancy 🎧 LISTEN: wp.me/p4bvGZ-3Hg

A pregnant woman with an inset image from a pregnancy app

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Maris Kreizman @maris.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Hello. After months and months of self-consciously self-promoting, the day has finally come. I WANT TO BURN THIS PLACE DOWN is available wherever books are sold. www.harpercollins.com/products/i-w...

harpercollins.com

I Want to Burn This Place Down

A debut essay collection by the inimitable cultural critic Maris Kreizman—an introspective, searing account of the life experiences that have pushed this fo...

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Kjerstin Johnson @kajerstin.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Really enjoyed Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age by @amandahess.bsky.social. The final chapter was like a mini-millennial-mom version of Naomi Klein’s Doppelgänger.

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amanda hess @amandahess.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

thank you so much! i want my Razr back 😭

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New York Magazine @nymag.com · 12/06/2025

Since the early 2010s, social media has been identified with protesters. In the early days, social media was an effective tool for activists to organize and communicate with one another and directly with the public, providing counternarratives to the ones laid out in popular coverage.

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Lizzie O'Leary @lizzieohreally.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

NYC’s campaign finance laws make it so you can get this mailer … and it’s gotta say who paid for it.

A pro Andrew Cuomo, anti Zohran Mamdani mailer

Text listing the funders behind the mailer

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amanda hess @amandahess.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

!!! thank you for waiting 🙏

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jenna ruddock @ruddock.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

people need to stop writing good books for a few months! my current rotation, all May pubs: Empire of AI @karenhao.bsky.social No Cop City, No Cop World @micahh.bsky.social @kamaufranklin.bsky.social Second Life @amandahess.bsky.social The AI Con @emilymbender.bsky.social @alexhanna.bsky.social

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amanda hess @amandahess.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

yes! you can get an ebook on Kindle or bookshop.org

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amanda hess @amandahess.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Tech companies are powerfully influencing our relationships with our kids, starting before they’re even born. I wrote a book about the surveillance, commodification and eugenic thinking embedded in everything from period trackers to baby monitors, and you can buy it now bookshop.org/p/books/seco...

bookshop.org

Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age

Having a Child in the Digital Age

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Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

Hell of a photo

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Megan Greenwell @greenwell.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Oh hell yes, they got a longtime private equity guy to review my book! He hated it! Do you want to be cool and preorder BAD COMPANY, or do you want to be like GARY??

bloomberg.com

Private Equity Doesn’t Actually Want to Kill the American Dream

Megan Greenwell’s Bad Company fails to deliver on its thesis that the business model only succeeds at the expense of portfolio companies.

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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

I... oh my god. amandaguinzburg.substack.com/p/diabolus-e...

amandaguinzburg.substack.com

Diabolus Ex Machina

This Is Not An Essay

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Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

“I had been the pregnant woman fetishizing the normal test result. Now that I was the mother of a child with a rare condition, I found an enemy in my past self”. Just finished Second Life by @amandahess.bsky.social. It is brilliant.

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