The digital age
At first glance seems clever
All this technology
Designed to keep us ‘together’
To keep us ‘connected’
Wherever we are
But if I’m totally honest
I think it’s a farce
For it enables us
To be lazy in our communication
Removing any necessity
To be physically present
When you can just send a text
With the tap of a few keys
Or email someone
You are relieved
Of any obligation
To make anything resembling an effort
To make an actual connection
Thus human contact is virtually severed
You certainly know your ‘worth’
When no one picks up the phone
When instead they record a memo
That you inevitably listen to alone
No option for conversation
A two-way thing
That involves interaction
And true dialoging
No eye contact either
No handshake
It’s akin to a bereavement
And my weary heart breaks
No hope of ascertaining
Someone’s warmth of tone
Or of reading their expression
And regarding the state of their soul
And so we avoid each other
Like the proverbial plague
As we succumb to greater reliance
On the digital age
This divide and rule plan
Seems to be working
Too many of us regrettably
Interaction are shirking
Afraid to venture out
Afraid to friendship kindle
Regarding those outside of our bubbles
As lepers with whom we shouldn’t mingle
And so people are losing
Their zest and will to live
It’s a sorry state of affairs
That it has come to this
We may as well be in a prison cell
With a smartphone as a mate
Oblivious to the bars which confine us
And the locked bolt across the gate
As long as we get ‘likes’
And the odd red heart emoji
As long as our phone bleeps sometimes
Surely we will never be lonely
As long as we have WiFi
And our reception is strong
Let us worship at the alter of technology
And to hell with what is wrong
Are we but islands?
On a sea of division?
Does the current to the ocean
Not flow from a river?
Does the river not form
From a tiny mountain spring?
That swelled from the raindrops
Collected therein?
That fell from the sky
When the clouds burst at the seams?
Don’t you see how we all are connected
Like the water in the streams?
It’s doesn’t do to be separate
Or we’ll dissipate and die
Whereas together we are strong
And can rise like the tide
Civilisation is being deconstructed
Machines are taking over
Our lives are moving increasing online
Fellowship rarer than a four leaf clover
Our prospects don’t look good
If we allow this decline to go on
It’s as if we’re facing a form of extinction
An intimacy Armageddon.
Rachel Rhodes 