Screen Time

By Titya Ramchandran

It is the Social media that brought us close,

Erasing boundaries catapulting every voice.

sending warmth of a crowd when lonely,

and fighting silly boredom easily.

Trades make strides, ideas thrive,

talents grow on the count of shares and likes.

But with incessant content online,

we often loose our sense of time.

“One more video and you must stop,

slip away before you scroll once more.”

I try to convince my monkey mind

to not fall for the algorithm’s ploy.

But the smart assistants know its master best,

like loyal servants, it feeds on your interests.

You get what you want to see,

even before you try to seek.

It’s a bond in tense between

artificial intelligence and natural stupidity.

Minutes be passing like seconds,

the second we dive into the virtual world.

With voices that never shut up,

it takes too much to follow and follow up;

to watch glimpses of uninvited parties,

to check on friends without even talking,

to peek into the highlights of everyone’s’ day,

to hop on posts page after page.

To watch decorated half-lives and half lies,

and question our completely normal lives.

Is everyone really happy all the time?

or is it just me having strange emotional rides?

We see on screen all flashy and fine,

but know, it’s a screen shielding the blues behind.

For I looked at my social media profile again,

and wondered if I am the happiest person alive!

By Titya Ramchandran