(intro)
San Francisco, 2009.
A startup office hums—
UX designers studying
slot machines
to craft a new kind of childhood.

Variable rewards,
dopamine lures,
the spin of the infinite scroll.

They call it “engagement optimization.”
It will reach
nine out of ten teenagers
before anyone understands
the cost.

(verse 1)
Michigan, 2015—
tap water under the microscope.
Microplastics in 83% of samples,
small enough
to cross the blood-brain barrier.

The report is stamped
“inconclusive.”

That same year,
bottled water becomes
America’s favorite drink.
Plastic wins the century.

(chorus)
This is how you make a modern child—
buzz the feed,
seed the cells,
let the hidden toxins pile.

Scroll, sip,
ping, drip—
attention drifting
mile by mile.

(verse 2)
Nevada, 2018—
school board meeting.
Architect unveils the new middle school:
“active shooter deterrent features”
as baseline design.

Small windows,
high,
few.

Natural light—
once nourishment
for learning minds—
is now filed
under “security risk.”

The children grow up indoors
with caution
for a sky.

(chorus)
This is how you make a modern child—
narrow the glass,
tighten the class,
teach the body
to stay alert
and mild.

Design a campus
like a bunker,
call it prudent,
call it safe—
watch the nervous system
learn constraint
as baseline space.

(verse 3)
Stanford, 2021—
teenagers inside brain scanners.
Attention circuits altered,
impulse centers thinned.

Patterns matching
adult addiction maps.

Every subject:
six hours of daily screens.
The youngest
show the deepest grooves.

(chorus)
This is how you make a modern child—
shape the cortex
to the cadence
of the algorithmic style.

Teach the brain
to chase the next hit,
teach the fingers
never to rest;

call it “digital literacy,”
ignore the tremor
in the chest.

(verse 4)
Hawaii, 2024—
grocery aisle glow.

Apples wearing
petroleum coats,
corn derivatives
in 89%
of center-aisle goods.

More plastic in the cart
than fiber,
than plant,
than earth.

(chorus – final)
This is how you make a modern child—
feed them polymer gloss
and calorie piles,
surround their hunger
with engineered aisles.

Make the diet synthetic,
make the default
“processed light”—
and wonder later
why their bodies
fight.

(outro)
A startup,
a lab,
a school,
a scanner,
a store.

Different rooms,
one pattern:
a generation built
from systems
designed
without them
in mind.

Two songs.
One childhood.
And the question
left ringing:

Who benefits
when a mind
is this
easy
to shape?