We Have Lost Ourselves
A Poem
Instagram partners
are a real thing
One more
Actually, just take like a hundred
I can delete them later
or just leave them in the cloud
113 different images
of me holding this ice cream
Actually, this is my second cone
because the first one melted
during pose 71
Hey, look at that
It’s a quote from my Twitter
that I put into Canva
and turned into an
Instagram post
I’m quoting myself
on my own Instagram
It’s not self-indulgent
It’s social media
My followers like this
even though most of the same people
follow me on Twitter
and Instagram
but it’s a really good quote
and I’m important
I’m driving my car
with my phone out
just in case something really,
really important happens
that I have to know about
{scrolling Instagram}
I know it’s dangerous
and people die because of this
every single day
but I’m at a red light
that just cycled through once
with everyone honking
and I can’t believe that they
were all honking at me
Haha, what a dummy
But it’s not dangerous
I’m careful when I am reading
a small screen
while operating two tons of metal
at 40 miles per hour
You should have seen me
when I had an iPhone 4
So hard to see
but I did it
I was careful
I saw it’s your birthday
but I’m too busy to call
and have a lot on my plate
so I just typed HBD
on your Facebook wall
but like I really mean it
from the bottom of my
{scrolling Facebook}
(distracted) heart
So much so that I didn’t
even text you
because I took the time
to write three letters
on a cyberwall
Congratulations to me
for being thoughtful
I don’t care if anyone sees this
#carefree #whatever
but I’m using all of these
#hashtags
to help people
It’s definitely not about me
or getting more followers
It’s just that
if people see me doing it
maybe they will think
that they can do it too
And when I say it
it means a lot of things
Like standing near a mountain
#nature #mountain
You can stand near a mountain too
Or like doing yoga
#yoga #namaste #flexible
You can do yoga too
When I hashtag I do it for good
Not how everyone else does it
We’ve been captured
inside a techno-spastic vortex
of compulsive content creation
Our lives are content
Our moments are hashtags
Our attention is
{scrolling Twitter}
Our attention is
{Medium alert}
Our attention is
#distracted
We have lost ourselves
© Jonathan Greene 2019
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