How the Mom Chat Became the Playground’s Meanest Arena
In the hierarchy of group chats, ranked from most benign to active minefield, the mom chat is in its own atmosphere, the Victor Wembanyama of thorny text chains. You think your family group chat, the one that includes both your prickly parents and defensive in-laws, is tricky to navigate? Welcome to the mom chat, a group of 10, 20, 40 near-strangers with varying parenting philosophies, backgrounds, priorities—and spelling capabilities—discussing their most precious gift, their child.
The wider world had the pleasure of meeting the mother of all mom chats last week, after a creator named AshleighJamz posted a viral sequence of texts in which a woman named Michelle asked her Kindergarten class chat if they could agree on “some basic rules” about lunchboxes: Please, nobody send Oreos to school. Ever.
The series, now known as Oreo-gate, may well be a marketing ploy. The texts are set to songs created by the AI music app Suno. A Suno spokesperson said that the company has a paid partnership with AshleighJamz, but that creators have editorial control over what they post. Oreo says it wasn’t behind the viral chat but is “thrilled” about it. AshleighJamz didn’t return a request for comment.
