Before you start reading this poem, send out that last text
for immediate replies, mean more than meaningful ones
Send out a compliment, or wishes or mere meaningless words
but read this only, when ten minutes I can behest
Not that I don’t like those snippets of words
small texts, comforts, distant hugs
It began with online chatrooms and virtual communities
and calling out to the world, realizing aspects of my personality
And then I unplugged
Excited, I learnt about myself in the virtual world
to lead a better life in the real one
But today, something seems to have gone wrong
when an echo of a buzz wakes me at dawn
A little device in my pocket seemed to have made all the difference
Today I text during meetings and shop whilst in class
my prized skill is to text while maintaining eye-contact
My parents ignore me for their phone over breakfast
and my attention to my sister doesn’t long last
Heck! I even text at funerals
I have removed myself from grief and reverie
I have eradicated any self-reflection capacity
I successfully am alone, while being together
I am with you, but also everywhere
I customize my life, and go in and out of where I am
I cherish the control, on what enjoys my attention span
I only observe, the bits that interest me
Yes, I have lost all friends in an array of screens
yes, it is I who has been lost in the sheen
Perhaps, I should be interrupted
but honestly, I’d rather go through the ordeal
I like people in the Goldilocks zone!
Someday… someday which isn’t the present
I would like to learn how to have a conversation
But conversations happens in real time,
where I can’t control what I might relay
I like to clean my messy relationships with technology
I am connected, I just do not converse
and I don’t mind, I miss nothing
after all, don’t these sips of communication
add up to one big gulp of real conversation?
No. They don’t.
They are good for relaying information
letting someone know I think of them
but I do not learn, know and understand someone
I do not learn, know and understand myself
But I’d rather just text than talk
I wish I could just dispense with people altogether
why can’t Siri be my best friend, she always listens
I like Facebook too, I see people listening to me
I see empathy there, and it’s not very different from the real thing
Technology, gives more to me than people do
I’m lonely, but I’m afraid of intimacy
I wish the comforts of companionship without the demands of friendship
I turn to technology because it offers the comforts of companionship within my control
But am I comfortable? Am I in control?
No
My phone allows me to put my attention wherever I want
it tells me I will always be heard
it says, ‘you will never have to be alone’
and so whenever I’m alone, I panic and my anxiety reaches for a device
Being alone, feels like a problem that needs to be solved
I connect, I share. Therefore I am
If I want to have a feeling, I send a text
I feel alive when I connect
I lose my capacity for solitude
And in losing solitude, I isolate myself
I connect, to use people as spare parts to support my fragile self
being connected, makes me feel less alone
but again, I feel more lonely each day
and I know if my children grow up the day I live, they will only be lonely
I’m smitten, by technology. Too much talking might spoil the relationship
Solitude scares me, my children don’t understand it
my phone offers a much better restitute
I communicate, I speak, I feel alone
I avoid the boring bits, and long being understood
I let technology win the bid over human connection
Technology says it will take something complicated, and promises something simpler
Life is hard, relationships are filled with risk
Technology is simpler, hopeful, optimistic, ever-young
With technology I can love my friends, I love my body, I love my life
I look for romance online, I love in worlds online
Robots, are my true companions
My evenings, are better spent on social network than with friends
I live here, I love here, I end here
This is a life I have chosen, I have no regrets
And now, if you please, may go back to yours in a world
for a screen awaits, and has not been checked in while
Vishal Gupta
23rd September, 2014
