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Pre-SocialMedia Times

A moment.

These days it's hard to have one
without feeling the need to share
every one with everyone.

Update it
       Tweet it
               Insta- it
                    'til we bleed.

How does this look?
         Who should we tag?
                 Where should we ping?

We've become factory workers
tasked with packaging our most worthy moments.

Keeping the extreme -
the happy
       the sad
             the adventurous.

The feel-good
       the funny
             the foodie -
throwing out the rest.

Not for me.
Not for you.
But for them - the carefully-chosen consumers of our lives?

What product are we making anyways?
Are our efforts in vain?
Mere distractions to their moments, ironic as that may be?

Feeding their urge to take in all things
except the one
                  the moment
                        right in front of them.

Traditions go on.
         Loved ones love.
                    Happy Birthdays are sung
but not without our consumers in mind.

Oh God.

Take me back to untangled times
when we trusted the moment to hold its own
without craving affirmations from our social drones.

Efff it.  Let's tuck it
instead, safe inside the sweet taste of our memories.

Let's learn to tell stories again.

Only after we've waited
pensively
               patiently
until the moment's had its chance
to swirl
          to simmer
                       to work out the kinks.

Embellish details if we wish,
but after-the-fact.

Pass reflections from our eyes again,
yours straight into mine.

Freeze our news feeds.
Free us from selfies.

Give us this moment in its purest form again.
Pre-SocialMedia Times.

 


© Candice Reineke 2014
 

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Comments

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Candice Reineke

Wed 29th Oct 2014 15:19

Thanks guys for your kind words. It's good to know that some can relate :)

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Laura Taylor

Mon 27th Oct 2014 10:19

Fantastic poem, in so many ways. The basis of it (which I totally agree with), the execution, the layout, the syntax. A really impressive piece.

Take me back to untangled times - one of the loveliest lines I've read for a while that.

Efff it. Let's tuck it - very clever :)

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Isobel

Mon 27th Oct 2014 08:47

Brilliant - I totally agree! I've been to a restaurant with friends to find my phone telling me I've got an email, to then find that it's a picture of me sitting there in a restaurant that's now on facebook. I only had the phone out of my bag cos I had problems going on at home...

But really - what's the point? How much less do you enjoy other people's company, if you are forever looking at a phone?

Seize the moment, seize the day - and only when you are totally bored, or have 5 minutes you don't know how to fill, go on social media!

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Alexandra Parapadakis

Sun 26th Oct 2014 14:01

Love the way you have phrased this! I couldn't agree with this more, our addictions to social media are out of control! I know so many people who prioritize virtual life over their real life. Sometimes we have to have to give it a rest

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Candice Reineke

Sat 25th Oct 2014 15:34

Phil, yes, my trip to California and Texas was great :) Ok calm down now, I don't think that we should literally do away with social media haha. This is just a little frustration and a bit of nostalgia coming through. Not sure if it's the same over there, but here in the states, most people constantly have their smartphones. Even during dinners or mid-conversations, they check their facebook app or one of the others. I am guilty of this at times too :)

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Tommy Carroll

Sat 25th Oct 2014 09:50

hmm...

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Dave Bradley

Sat 25th Oct 2014 08:05

I enjoyed this Candice, at least partly because of the challenge it contains. I'm not on Twitter but do enjoy Facebook in moderation. it has addictive qualities and a capacity for undermining simple enjoyment in just the way you describe. "What product are we making anyways?" Indeed.

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