21st Century Blues

Madeline Ross

Winmalee, New South Wales

Australia

The carriage is silent,
Time ticking by,
Buttons and touchscreens buzzing;
This is the anthem of the modern age.

Their eyes are fixed and staring,
Their eyelids barely move,
Like lifeless, brainless zombies,
Technology the fabled cause.

No one is talking,
Absorbed in lonely worlds,
Lost in social media,
A special kind of social isolation,
Not very social at all.

This happens every day;
In crowded trains, on the street,
And in the family home;
An addiction to worldly ‘connection’;
But are we connected at all?

Sharing, posting, tweeting, liking,
The jargon of the current age;
Of technology twisting young minds,
The distortion of images and icons,
Spreading lies, deceit, and deception,
Of peoples ‘perfect’ lives.

In this breeds obsession,
A desire to feel and gain connection,
Dependant on sharing opinion
But never speaking a word.

Trains were for conversing,
Time for meeting new people and passing the time;
But not a word is uttered anymore;
A lost art is becoming ancient.

To talk, to joke, to laugh,
To meet future friends;
To reconnect with old ones,
Opportunities and future partners,
Lost to the clicking of an internet link.

Society grows larger,
Technology more advanced,
Getting smarter with every development;
Yet we are becoming mindless,
Lost in false connection,
Zombies in the growing epidemic,
Helpless to stop its spread.

Bio: Madeline asks the questions: Are we truly connected to our world? Are we so obsessed with connecting over social media that we have lost the ability to truly connect in real life? This poem explores the use of social media and challenges the meaning of human connection.