A social media app resurfaced an old photo of me with a haircut that looked like a badly assembled helmet. I meant to send the memory privately to a friend with a joke about deleting it. Instead, I accidentally created a public poll attached to the photo: "Was this haircut a crime? Yes / Absolutely yes." I noticed only after relatives and former classmates started voting. The app notified everyone who had been tagged in the original picture, including the person who had cut my hair as a favor. I tried to delete the poll, but the photo had already been shared with a caption saying democracy was working. Even my parent voted for "Absolutely yes" and then posted a second childhood photo as supporting evidence. The poll expired after twenty-four hours with a result too decisive to appeal. The haircut is now my most viewed post, which feels like the internet rewarding exactly the wrong thing.
