Since 2013

I first noticed them in 2013.
Before that I don’t recall such a strange situation.
You could walk by any bus stop and see them.
There they were almost all of them.
Standing and staring…at their little screens.
They all carried them.
They all looked at them.
Constantly.
I didn’t have one.
I used to have a flip phone.
But not this new variety.
They did. All of them.
Gotta keep up with the Joneses I guess.
They were.
It revealed something about people that I’d always wondered about.
Were they individuals or all of a hive mind?
Were they separate?
Or as one thing.
I was amazed to watch them.
They seemed so unaware of their behavior.
Of how weird it was.
That all of them did it.
In unison.
Those little screens had them entranced.
It seemed a form of control.
Mind control.
They still do it.
Many years later.
Things haven’t got any better.
They spend long hours day after day staring.
They hold it mid-chest level.
They look at them: walking, eating, driving, in bed.
Even when they’re with others.
They’d rather look at their little screens than talk to a person sitting next to them.
I still don’t have one.
Someday I may be forced to get one.
The push is on to make them essential to survive.
The digital world keeps closing in.
The health effects scientists warned about are never mentioned.
I have a friend who spent 6 plus hours a day on his cellphone for years.
He is dying of a brain tumor.
I don’t believe he even knows how he got it.
Those little screens. So enticing with their colored lights, texts,
pretty images, movies, music, and well…I’ve said enough.

This article was posted on Sunday, September 20th, 2026 at 8:00am and is filed under Poetry.