Is It Time To Unplug?

Has the USB cord become the new umbilical?

We’re all plugged into one device or another.

Constantly connected to a virtual life,

While existing in another.

There is a wireless connection,

An invisible umbilical

Or virtual umbilical, if you’d prefer.

Yet I’ve watched in not-so-silent terror, as I’ve seen it smother

And how you’ve used it to find another (and another).

You say that cord of connection spawns affection?

Is it real though?

Or is that cord causing an ever-widening disconnection?

When was the last time that you set aside your mobile

To connect with someone seated at your own table?

Unplug, un-sync, and pay close attention.

It’s time we all pause for a moment.

Let’s take the time for a dissection.

That phone has become a seemingly permanent extension of your hand.

Connected to your USB umbilical cord.

It provides no sustenance,

Yet you grip it as if it were your very lifeline.

Do you see how you and that thing have become so completely entwined?

We feel as if we’ve lost you.

You missed all the signs.

So lost in this addiction, it’s no longer simply a way for you to “pass the time.”

Sure, I enjoy the limitless resources of knowledge.

In addition to what I seek in tangible literary resources,

I often rely on my connection for added fodder for my mind.

Although, that’s not what I see in most cases.

That’s definitely not what’s happening here, with you.

There’s an addiction of sorts,

A disconnection to the world around you

Given your complete immersion in the world sitting upon your palm.

‘Do you hear me?’

Do you remember those of us present around you?

Yooooooo-hooooo!

*Crickets sound*

Just as I feared.

Another zombified human lost to the abyss.

He’s wrapped up in the virtual spiderweb.

I never really understood why the Internet had been given the moniker of the World Wide Web.

Initially, I believed that the web would connect us all in time.

Bridging gaps between continents and cultures,

Aiding in the formation of friendships worldwide

And while it has certainly done that as well,

There has also been an unprecedented disconnection,

An utter lack of communication between humans

Who are in one another’s immediate vicinity as a result.

We find like-minded kindred spirits all around the globe.

Which is truly a cause for celebration please do not misunderstand.

Yet, on the other hand…

So many cannot even converse with those who are right near where they stand.

I’ve always felt, and mostly still do, that the internet is a gift

As it’s brought me to you, you and you.

The flip side is the cost of distance among close kin.

They never set down their devices

And quite frankly, my patience is wearing rather thin.

‘I’m right here and would love to talk!

Could you maybe set down your phone, and close Insta, too?’

‘Oh my mistake, it’s TikTok that you do!

Well, anyhow, could you please minimize, or press the little X?

Maybe power off your screen?

You see we’re standing here, trying to talk to you

And we’re all feeling completely unseen.

So absorbed are you in that world upon your screen.’

. . .

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This poem was originally published on Medium.