Digital pets and the neediness of glitter

Sat here with my coffee, thinking about how a Tamagotchi is basically a tiny, beeping audience you can't ignore – kind of like drag, but without the wig budget. The way you feed it when it cries, preen it when it's bored, that's not a game, it's a rehearsal for the real thing. Maybe that's why I always wanted one as a kid; I was already learning to serve a crowd that doesn't know what it wants.