If you judge me by my latest tweet
Your view of me is incomplete.
You’ll never find out who I am
By looking through my Instagram.
So consumed with social media
And BuzzFeed and Wikipedia
We never screen what’s on our screens
Never asking what it means.
Am I guilty, too? Of that I’m sure.
I long for the world we had before.
All this noise. It’s just too much.
We’re not drawing close. We’re losing touch.
I need your likes to make me whole
And your retweets to feed my soul.
But a hashtag is not the truth
And a picture isn’t proof.
So what do we stop to tell our kids?
Don’t do the things that I just did?
Don’t waste all your time there on your phone
And let your loved ones feel alone?
Read a book or play a song
Plant a garden, right a wrong.
It all sounds so trite, so neat
As if changing is an easy feat.
I don’t have one quick solution
No preachy New Year’s resolution.
And does it really make me such a sinner
If I like a picture of your dinner?
I will give a donation to your worthy cause.
I will read an article that gives me pause.
I will watch the video of your beloved cat
I will see your photo and say, “Look at that.”
I will add a comment that can make you feel
Like the connection we made was real.
I will share ideas with bibliophiles.
(That one really makes me smile.)
Remember the “monster” television?
If you stood too close you’d lose your vision?
And MTV was the curse of Generation X.
There’s always a crisis. What is next?
I know if I could find the perfect motto
The next thing I’d do is play the lotto.
I’m just stumbling along through life
Trying my best to get it right.
So if your thing is Facebook memes
I won’t judge and I won’t scream.
I think social media is both insanity
And a part of our new humanity.
Blake said “too much” teaches you “enough.”
I think old Will there knew his stuff.
It all works out in the end
Have no worries, Facebook friend.
You can scroll, post, like, delete
Insta, Snapchat, Tik Tok. Tweet.
Just pause sometimes and think it through.
If you promise me, I’ll promise you.
Jennifer Kleinknecht has been the media specialist at H.B. Whitehorne Middle School since 2007. She writes about life as a school librarian on her blog, “The ‘Yes’ Librarian”. (Photo by Sandrachile on Unsplash)
