St. Louis High School students may be starting a new fad – Widgetable pets! Widgetable pets are little animals that live on the home screen of your phone. There is also a co-parenting option where people can split the work of taking care of the animal with a friend.
Widgetable pets are the new popular thing at SLHS, and many students are enjoying co-parenting together. However, a few students are also regretting getting a digital pet. One student, senior Claire Hubble, has had a Widgetable pet. She said, “I downloaded it a while ago and then completely forgot about it. I finally deleted it after I got sick of the notifications telling me my pet was starving. I didn’t know about co-parenting though, that’s actually super cool. I would redownload it just to co-parent with someone.”
Other students don’t share quite the same opinion about these furry friends. Olesya Mullins and Olivia Lane joined to co-parent an animal for themselves. Lane said, “I think they are fun. However, the pets run away easily, especially if you work with the wrong friend. My friend and I did it, and she didn’t take care of it. She let our pet run away under her care. I haven’t touched the app since and really haven’t tried to get our pet back. It’s just not the same or as fun anymore.”
Widgetable also recently got an update where the pets send positive messages such as “Your smile warms my heart” and “You look SO good today!” Aside from the negative views of Widgetable Pets, other students are bigger supporters of them. One of these students, freshman Aaliyah Velazco, shared her thoughts on these digital pets. She said, “I really like them, they are something that I now make room for in my day. I love the co-parenting feature. I think it’s so fun to take care of a little pet with one of your friends. It’s definitely one of the best things on my phone, and I feel like it’s my own child.”
