A long time ago, when I was in middle school, I had a chapter in one of the courses on 'Bound Feet'. Although I probably didn't think about it outside of class back then, it all came back when I read this article about Jo Farrell documenting the lives of the last living women who endured foot-binding in the early 20th century.

After being practiced for nearly a thousand years, the Chinese government banned the brutal practice of foot-binding back in 1911. The process involved bending a girl's toes under the sole and wrapping them tightly with long ribbons, when she was between the ages of four to six. This would ensure the girl's feet didn't grow large.

The sole purpose of this was to ensure she found a suitable husband. The smaller the feet, better the prospects of marriage.

Although binding feet has been successfully abolished, there are still binding processes in place that shackle the growth of ideas, of curiosity and inquisitiveness.

The popular digital platforms are all contributing to this by helping popular content (one that gets the most eyeballs and clicks) be easily discovered, in the process forcing content creators to stick to specific scripts to be able to reach a wider audience.