Educator Keldric Holmes has been chronicling his life as a second grade teacher on TikTok. In a recent video, which has gone viral with over 21M views, he spills the kinds of things his students share on a regular basis, which run the gamut from the personal to the ridiculous. “Let me tell y'all something,” Holmes says. “I just want you to know, y'all kids come to school and tell all your business!”
This includes everything from “You can't call my mama because her phone is off” to “Why are you a teacher? My granny said that y'all don't make no money” to “I don't have a snack today because my mom doesn't have her food stamps yet.” Other children asked if his hair was sewn in, told him “this pencil smells like booty meat,” and asked the 24-year-old Holmes, “Were you alive when they buried Jesus?” The nonplussed Holmes raises an eyebrow or several, and takes it all in stride. As he well knows, it’s part of the job.
@_dreholmes Things my 2nd graders said to me this week. #teachersoftiktok #elementaryschool #teacher #fyp
An oversharing or unfiltered elementary school-aged child actually isn’t an uncommon situation. You’ll remember shows like Kids Say the Darndest Things, or even more recent social media phenomena like Recess Therapy, where kids just aren’t afraid to say what’s what. For educators and for parents, it can be a teachable moment. “Kids may throw us off guard with no-filter comments,” Parents Magazine shares, “but we should always lean into that curiosity and use it as an opportunity for growth.”
Kids are also huge observational learners, according to Michigan State University. “Children learn and imitate behaviors by watching and listening to others,” the university shares, so it's best to set a good example. “Whether or not they demonstrate a new behavior, they are picking up new knowledge. Children are learning about the behavioral choices of others and also about the consequences of those behaviors.” Their relationship to filters and boundaries can also live here, in other words.
Indeed, organizations like the Child Mind Institute and Everyday Speech have entire lessons dedicated to helping students of all ages understand what it means to overshare and set boundaries. For very young children, boundaries can be easy to set, the Child Mind Institute notes, but there become more intricacies to those as children get older. “Social interaction gets more complex, it’s not enough to just learn the rules,” the organization says. “They need to learn to set boundaries for themselves and respect those of others.”
This is, interestingly enough, something that can happen around the age of seven, which many children are in second grade, the grade Holmes teaches. This age is known as “the age of reason,” according to Scholastic. Psychotherapist Dr. Dana Dorfman told the children’s publishing house in an interview that this phrase “refers to the developmental cognitive, emotional, and moral stage in which children become more capable of rational thought, have internalized a conscience, and have better capacity to control impulses (than in previous stages).” It’s the age where children start to learn the expansiveness of feelings and “the difference between right and wrong.” An understanding of filters can live here, too.
Teachers like Holmes experience and enable children’s growth first hand, and all the unfiltered moments that come with it. It’s work of enduring care. “The kids are the real reason,” Holmes says in another video. “In order to be an educator, you truly have to love it, and there's just no better feeling when the students actually love you back.”
@_dreholmes Replying to @athenadoesit There’s no greater feeling than being reminded of your “why” as an educator! #comeintheroom #teachersoftiktok #elementaryschool #fyp
An elderly man walks down an icy roadCanva 
An elderly man grilling at a partyCanva
Two people enjoying a walk through the woods
A woman pets her dogCanva 
A woman stands in front of a window listening to musicCanva
A group of people sit around a circle talkingCanva
A woman sleeping in bedCanva
Woman proudly displays an "I Voted" stickerCanva
A woman's ear with multiple piercingsCanva
A woman takes a bit out of a huge strawberry cakeCanva
The back of a woman's head with silver hair. Canva
A woman watches the sunset from her carCanva
A nurse holds a clipboard in a hospital hallwayCanva
A heavily-tattooed woman holds a mug of coffeeCanva
Stressed out man at workCanva
Stressed employee takes a break from workCanva
Overhead shot of three employees sharing a deskCanva
A pile of cashCanva
A pregnant woman clutches her bellyCanva
An eviction noticeCanva
Supportive Reddit comment Reddit | 
A gavel rests in front of a judgeCanva
Victoria Claflin Woodhull, the first woman to run for president of the United States in 1872rce Harvard Art Museum/Fogg Museum, Historical Photographs and Special Visual Collections Department, Fine Arts Library via 
Suffragists matching for women's right to vote in the early 20th centuryCanva
Amazon fulfillment centerCanva
A worker transports a heavy boxCanva
Female shopper looking for help
21 products that are gaslighting us into thinking they’re essential when they’re not
Some things in life are actually necessary—clean water, decent healthcare, basic human decency. But then there are the things that feel like they’re gaslighting us. The things we’re told we can’t live without, even though we survived just fine before they existed. Things like "smart" fridges, lawn fertilizer services, and yes—whole body deodorant.
Recently, our sister-site Upworthy asked their Facebook audience the question: What's a product or service that feels like it's gaslighting all of us into thinking it's necessary? More than 8,000 responses poured in. The answers were passionate, funny, and surprisingly unified.
Here are 21 products, services, and systems people called out for pretending to be essential—when they might actually be optional, overpriced, or flat-out invented.
1. Whole body deodorant
"Take a shower," said Shannon H.
“How did we ever manage all those years without it!! 😂😵💫” added Karen R.
Others noted it may help people with medical conditions—but for the average person, it's definitely a marketing creation.
2. Health insurance
It topped the list. Erica L. explained: “My doctor prescribes, the pharmacist issues meds, nurses care for people, surgeons do surgery—Health Insurance stands between health care and patients and says no, exclusively on whether they think it’s financially effective to treat you.”
Important note: Health insurance can provide life-saving access for many—but what people are frustrated by here is the profit-first system, not care itself.
3. The wedding industry
Multiple people slammed the high cost of modern weddings.
JoElla B. put it plainly: “We spend too much time and money planning one day, and not enough thought on how to blend two lives in a mutually beneficial one.”
Others called out expensive dresses, venues, and pressure to perform for social media.
4. Bottled water
Carole D. said: “Water in plastic bottles! Get a cup!”
While bottled water has value in emergencies, it’s often just filtered tap water—sold for profit in plastic.
5. Baby product overload
“Most baby products,” wrote Kelli O. “They really aren’t as needy and complicated as companies want us to think.”
6. Fabric softener
“It’s bad for clothes, bad for the Earth, bad for the wallet, and totally unnecessary,” said Gail H.
Some experts agree—many softeners contain chemicals that can reduce fabric lifespan and irritate skin.
7. Smart appliances
“Adding ‘phone controls’ to every appliance instead of making them last as long as they used to,” wrote Sherry S.
When your fridge needs a software update, something’s gone off the rails.
8. Makeup and anti-aging products
“Anything anti-aging,” said Melissa T., “Please just let me age into the gargoyle I was meant to become.”
Others questioned products designed to “fix” eyelashes, eyebrows, pores, and graying hair.
April S. added, “Products that women are convinced they MUST have in order to be ‘beautiful’ and therefore ‘loved.’”
9. Cosmetic surgery
Ron P. called out the industry as a whole. And while body autonomy matters, many commenters questioned whether insecurities are being commodified and sold back to us.
10. Ticketmaster and “convenience fees”
“Let’s go back to waiting in line at a record store,” wrote Nicole C.
Zaida B. added: “Convenience fee for online purchases—then charging $10 more at the actual event.”
11. Engagement rings
James P. didn’t mince words: “Engagement rings.”
The diamond industry has long been criticized for manufactured scarcity and marketing-fueled necessity.
12. Lawn chemicals and services
“Plant native grasses and you don’t have the pests or need for constant watering,” wrote Jamie B.
Environmental groups have raised similar concerns over runoff and unnecessary pesticide use.
13. AI and generative tech
“This stuff squeezes the lifeblood and individuality out of the human experience,” said Teresa L.
Saskia D. and others echoed skepticism about its necessity, even as many of us are being pushed to use it.
14. Funeral services
Amy W. shared: “My parents both have already paid to have themselves cremated and are very adamant that they do not want anything big done for them. In their words, ‘I won’t care, I’m dead.’”
Of course, some families find comfort in tradition—but the cost and pressure can feel overwhelming and predatory.
15. Rinse and repeat
Amy D. nailed it: “It’s just to sell more. Not even sure you need it at all.”
16. Credit Card Surcharges
Shawn S. took aim at the extra fees popping up at checkout: “That is the cost of doing business and shouldn’t be the burden of the purchaser.”
Many questioned why customers are increasingly being asked to pay extra simply for the convenience of using a card.
17. Constant phone upgrades
“Apple are notorious for releasing the same shit every year,” said Steph S.
Diana H. added, “Needing to upgrade our phones so frequently.”
Built-in obsolescence and marketing cycles drive most of the demand.
18. Vitamins and supplements
“If I took every supplement they say I NEED I wouldn’t need food. Nor could I afford it,” said Tausha L.
19. Fake pockets on women’s pants
Jessica W. said, “I have to buy men’s pants for work because women’s pants would just get torn up too fast!”
Form over function, and then they charge more for it.
20. Disposable everything
“The ‘convenience’ of disposable everything,” said Rick R.
It’s killing the planet—and draining wallets.
21. Tipping
“I’m sick of supplementing for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage,” wrote Susan V.
Tipping culture has evolved into something far removed from its original intent, and for many, it now feels like a burden shifted onto the customer.
The bigger picture
People aren’t saying all these things should vanish tomorrow. But when we start seeing convenience sold as necessity, and insecurity turned into billion-dollar markets, it's worth asking: who benefits from all of this?
And more importantly—who pays?
This article originally appeared earlier this year.