digital availability
around the clock
after a while
begins to feel like
permanent responsibility
your friends expect you
to be online all the time
whether you like it or not
so they can share with you their daily trivia
of personal condition, discount shopping, their dog’s health,
the children’s good, their problems with their partners,
etcetera etcetera
I know it’s nice to hit a button
and hear the ringing of the other’s phone
the voice responding to your call
it’s fine when there are no alternatives
and yet
somehow the electronic chat
confirms more than redeems
presence of absence of the person
I feel like talking to an avatar
a disembodied voice
that has a virtual existence
yet whose life in the real world
still needs to be asserted
by meeting – and talking –
in a café
or simply on the street
May 24, 2016
May 24, 2016 at 10:39 AM UTC
digital availability
around the clock
after a while
begins to feel like
permanent responsibility
your friends expect you
to be online all the time
whether you like it or not
so they can share with you their daily trivia
of personal condition, discount shopping, their dog’s health,
the children’s good, their problems with their partners,
etcetera etcetera
I know it’s nice to hit a button
and hear the ringing of the other’s phone
the voice responding to your call
it’s fine when there are no alternatives
and yet
somehow the electronic chat
confirms more than redeems
presence of absence of the person
I feel like talking to an avatar
a disembodied voice
that has a virtual existence
yet whose life in the real world
still needs to be asserted
by meeting – and talking –
in a café
or simply on the street
