A

s we enter the new 
year 
of 
2022, 
the 

common 
practice 

of New Year’s Resolutions 
may look a bit different. 
Undoubtedly, many will flock 
to the gym or cut carbs or 
begin writing their Great 
American Novel in an attempt 
to start the year off on what 
they believe to be “the right 
foot.” However, given the 
irrefutably 
overwhelming 

nature of the past few years, 
this year I believe the only 
goal should be to emphasize 
and prioritize self-care. In 
2022, find your therapy. 

Anyone 
who 
personally 

knows me knows how open 
I am about therapy. I’ve 
never understood the stigma 
surrounding 
something 

so 
natural, 
humane 
and 

immensely 
beneficial. 
I 

started talking to a therapist 
right before my sophomore 
year of college and it was one 
of the best decisions I’ve ever 
made. So many of my friends 
have also started their own 
therapeutic 
journeys 
and 

many have been on their’s 
for 
years. 
In 
the 
past, 

therapy was associated with 
uncontrollable mental illness. 
This could not be further 
from the truth. In reality, 
there is not one person alive 
today that would not benefit 
from essentially having an 
unbiased third party to talk 
to. 

I 
encourage 
you 
to 

redefine 
therapy. 
Instead 

of a comfortable couch and 
a glasses and sweater-clad 
psychologist 
scribbling 
on 

a notepad, envision a zoom 
meeting with two cups of 
coffee 
and 
a 
45-minute 

conversation. Put yourself in 
a position where instead of 
the outdated, stereotypical 
dialogue 
like 
“and 
how 

does that make you feel?” 
you are encouraged to view 
complicated situations with a 
healthier perspective and to 
re-establish boundaries with 
yourself and those around 
you. 

Having 
said 
that, 

therapy is also much more 
commonplace in today’s day 
and age. Recognizing that 
I am extremely fortunate 
to have parents that are 
capable of paying for my 
therapist that is not covered 
by insurance, it is extremely 
feasible to find a plethora 
of equally helpful resources 
for 
different 
monetary 

demographics. 
Online 

companies 
like 
BetterHelp 

or TalkSpace, among others, 
offer 
different 
payment 

plans and opportunities to 
get 
financial 
assistance. 

Beyond talk therapy, there 
are 
so 
many 
additional 

therapeutic 
practices 
that 

can even be completely free. 
As the pandemic uncertainty 
continues, 
it 
is 
also 

understandable to stray from 
an in-person therapy session. 
Thankfully, 
many, 
if 
not 

all, therapists have remote 
opportunities through virtual 
formats. 

Delving deeper, therapeutic 

practices come in all shapes 
and sizes. For me, self-care 
means much more than the 
conversations I engage in 
every once and a while with 
my therapist. Therapy can 
and 
should 
mean 
having 

an effective morning and 
nighttime routine, listening 
to music that boosts your 
serotonin 
and 
integrating 

activities into your life that 
exist for the sole purpose of 
making you feel good. 

If the pandemic has shown 

us anything, it is to appreciate 
the time we have. I mean this 
not in a morbid, “the clock is 
ticking” type way, but instead 
that we must do our best to 
honor the mere ability to 
sip cocktails with friends or 
read a book in a public café. 
Especially at the University of 
Michigan, I made it a priority 
to 
soak 
in 
every 
second 

spent in The Big House this 
year and intend on doing 
the same at every basketball 
game I attend. As the cliché 
saying goes: “We never truly 
appreciate something until 
it’s gone.”

The inability to enjoy the 

outside world throughout the 
rollercoaster ride of COVID-
19 has been a brutal reminder 
and an unpleasant wake-up 
call to take absolutely nothing 
for granted. Again, therapy 
does not need to mean this 
conventional yet antiquated 
conception of a couch and a 
legal pad. Therapy is whatever 
you require to check in with 
and ensure you are being kind 
to yourself. Influencers and 
apps alike have reinforced 
the importance of making 
goals for the New Year far 
less focused on loss or gain 
and instead on the wonderful 
amalgamation of good and 
bad right in front of you. 
Focus instead on the prospect 
of human possibility. 

Therapy may mean that you 

must cut some toxicity out of 
your life or make decisions 
that seem impossible. But it 
must be an essential part of 
everyone’s 
life, 
especially 

as we continue to navigate 
this 
turbulent, 
uncharted 

territory. I reject the concept 
that each year is a completely 
brand new opportunity to sink 
or swim. That is far too much 
pressure to put on any person. 
Instead, conceptualize 2022 
as a coloring book. Each day 
is a page, and while certain 
outlined 
images 
may 
be 

decided for you, you have the 
opportunity to choose from 
whatever array of colors is at 
your disposal and make each 
day a unique picture. To me, 
that starts with crushing the 
stigma and finding whatever 
therapy means to you. 

 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Opinion
10 — Wednesday, January 19, 2022 

A

fter the Dot-Com bubble 
burst in 2000, many 
individuals 
feared 

that the technology sector was 
primed to lose its global reach 
following an astounding period 
of mania. From the ashes of the 
crash, however, rose companies 
like Amazon, Google, Twitter 
and Facebook, far stronger than 
their predecessors and hell-
bent on achieving worldwide 
prominence. Unfortunately, in 
their rapid rise to power, these 
companies 
have 
generated 

an endless flow of criticism. 
Politicians across the aisle are 
irate over their monopolistic 
tendencies, 
inadequate 

protection of free speech and 
murky privacy policies. These 
concerns have led to several 
high-profile hearings and the 
introduction of legislation in 
Congress, all with the aim 
of 
significantly 
reducing 

Big Tech’s influence. While 
this combative 
approach 
is 

understandable, in order to 
maintain America’s competitive 
advantage 
in 
tech 
on 
an 

international scale, it’s critical 
that 
the 
government 
shifts 

its 
regulatory 
efforts 
from 

haphazard antitrust maneuvers 
to more constructive approaches 
that improve the overall health 
of the technology sector while 
allowing companies to preserve 
their core business models.

Though 
there 
are 
many 

proposed regulatory bills, the 
most dangerous to innovation 
is likely the bipartisan Platform 

Competition and Opportunity 
Act introduced by Sen. Amy 
Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Sen. 
Tom 
Cotton, 
R-Ark., 
which 

would 
fundamentally 
alter 

the process of mergers and 
acquisitions for American tech 
companies. Currently, regulators 
bear the burden of proving 
that 
deals 
violate 
antitrust 

laws. The new legislation seeks 
to shift the responsibility of 
demonstrating that transactions 
maintain market competition 
to 
companies 
instead. 
This 

radical change would drastically 
increase the amount of red tape 
in the deal-making process and 
require Big Tech firms to engage 
in significant legal action for 
any 
potential 
moves. 
Since 

acquisitions far outnumber IPOs 
in startup exits, this disastrous 
proposal would actually serve 
to stymie competition in the 
startup ecosystem by stifling 
deal flow. By limiting incentives 
for 
startups 
and 
investors, 

the 
legislation 
threatens 
to 

deal a death blow to American 
innovation. 
Most 
tech 

startups are unable to achieve 
profitability 
independently. 

With 
a 
low 
volume 
of 

acquisitions, many companies 
will be unable to take advantage 
of Big Tech’s resources while 
building 
products, 
and 
will 

instead 
face 
the 
threat 
of 

bankruptcy.

If Congress is serious about 

promoting competition with 
Big Tech, a more impactful 
area to focus on would be 
individual and corporate tax 
codes. Since labor is already 
incredibly expensive in the 

U.S. relative to other nations, 
American startups inherently 
face 
tremendous 
expenses 

that make scaling a company 
challenging. 
Reducing 

corporate tax rates for small 
businesses in the industry 
could 
have 
an 
immediate 

impact 
on 
increasing 

competition by helping the 
cost structure of early-stage 
companies. 
Studies 
have 

shown that a 1% increase in 
corporate tax is correlated 
with a 1.8% decrease in new 
startups and a 3.7% decrease 
in 
startup 
employees, 
so 

lowering corporate tax could 
help 
stimulate 
innovation. 

Furthermore, 
by 
reducing 

the long-term capital gains 
rate, more individuals could 
be incentivized to join and 
launch companies without the 
worry of being exorbitantly 
taxed on their stock options 
upon acquisitions and IPOs.

Beyond 
modifying 
their 

approach 
to 
improving 

competition, 
regulators 
also 

must tweak their plans to 
preserve 
free 
speech 
and 

maintain data privacy. Although 
the need to collect user data in 
advertisement-based platforms 
is less than ideal, it’s unrealistic 
to expect Facebook, Twitter, 
Google and other companies 
whose 
revenue 
stems 
from 

advertising 
to 
steer 
away 

from data collection. A more 
fruitful approach would be to 
collaborate with the tech sector 
on standardizing the sharing 
of data collection practices 
with users. By having specific 
regulations 
on 
informing 

users of how their data is 
being aggregated, individuals 
will be able to make more 
informed decisions about which 
platforms they feel comfortable 
using. 

In the realm of free speech, 

Congress would be best served 
by finding a balance between 
fully repealing Section 230 — the 
communications law permitting 
companies to moderate content 
on their platforms — and allowing 
censorship and misinformation 
to 
prevail. 
Regulators 
can 

explicitly 
prohibit 
extremist 

content 
from 
all 
platforms 

and place a ban on any direct 
political discrimination, while 
still leaving companies enough 
leeway to moderate and shape the 
culture of their own platforms.

Now more than ever, it’s 

important that America not 
upend the capabilities of its 
tech 
industry. 
With 
China 

intending to spend $1.4 trillion 
by 2025 to make its technology 
sector globally dominant in 
5G, 
artificial 
intelligence 

and quantum computing, we 
can’t afford to weaken our 
own ability to compete. Big 
Tech is certainly not perfect, 
but with global penetration, 
Chinese technology companies 
have the potential to carry out 
widespread surveillance and 
data mining under the orders of 
a government with a death grip 
on the private sector. If we hope 
to stand up to China and other 
countries that threaten our 
technological prowess in the 
future, Congress must resist the 
temptation to blow up Big Tech 
and instead move towards less 

It’s time to rethink how we regulate Big Tech

NIKHIL SHARMA

Opinion Columnist

Omicron is omnipresent

Design by Maddy Lejas, Opinion Cartoonist
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Find your therapy in 2022

JESSICA D’AGOSTINO

Opinion Columnist

Design by Ambika Tripathi, Opinion Cartoonist

