Message Received

On By Swarn GillIn Musings, Pop Culture, Prose and Poetry

I’d like to broach a subject,
About something we all do.
While we might be social creatures,
Some folks make us mad or blue.

So what are the things you do,
To avoid having a conversation?
Have you ducked into a restroom,
Feigning troubling constipation?

Have you ever silenced your phone,
Or just tossed it in your trunk?
Claimed a received message was errant?
Then said, “Boy technology is junk!”

Have you minimized a window,
Or changed the size of the page,
Just to not even see the name,
Of someone who causes you fits of rage?

Have you said you’re off to bed,
Even when you stay up late,
Just to binge on your favorite show,
Or get rid of that annoying date?

Have you just replied “LOL”
Just to get the parlay to end?
Or said, “Aw, I meant to reply,
But I forgot to hit ‘SEND’”?

Have you ever received an e-mail,
But just didn’t give a damn?
And replied in the second one,
That their first one went to spam.

Sometimes you’ve missed a message,
And don’t want anyone to know,
Thankfully software has no feelings,
Or carries grudges to let go.

I am not saying that it’s right,
To act with so little grace,
But in this communication age,
We all need a bit of space.

And truly, people can be annoying,
I’m no exception to the rule,
And we often escalate the drama,
As our response just adds more fuel.

Go too far and you may risk,
Being without and job and all alone,
We need goodwill and interaction,
No human is a stone.

But there is no shame in practicing,
Some insanity prevention,
By not sinking in a morass of time,
From some acquaintance’s dissension.

Find your peace and your balance,
With your tricks and your white lies,
You’re going to feel a little guilt,
But it also might be wise.

If I don’t have time to reply
To your comments about this verse,
I promise that the excuses I give,
Are all very well rehearsed.

18 thoughts on “Message Received”

  1. A couple of friends is all we need, but today we are inundated with multiple apps and contact 24/7 around the globe and across time zones. It’s too much. I give quite a bit of time to WP, but the other social platforms are now collecting dust. We must find our own happy spots and keep things even. Did you get that email I sent you? Hehe

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    1. Haha…it’s more than just social media..it’s also work where you are inundated with e-mails, but also just forced interactions with people you aren’t always in the mood to deal with, or you don’t have the time to get trapped into a long conversation.

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      1. There is a guy at work I avoid. EVERY topic turns into an hour of endtime prophecy. Literally. He had some extra eggs and asked if I wanted them. Pretty soon the hens turned into the four horsemen and nuclear war. It’d be funny if it wasn’t so frequent.

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        1. I mean that made me laugh…but yes I could see how that much crazy might eventually sour a person having to listen to it all the time. People like that…you always wonder how close they are to make “endtime” a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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          1. He hopes to be around to see the shake down. The lord has also prompted him to write letters to president Obama and trump. They never replied to his warnings. He’s an expert on the Middle East and Israel and makes great connections from just listening to TBN podcasts and the spirit. Amazing

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        1. Yep. Personally I am trying to get better at letting the phone be a compliment to my life instead of controlling. Quitting Facebook has helped. There is a lot of value to having a smart phone and it’s been extremely helpful. Being conscious of the ways we can become addicted to technology is important.

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          1. I let my phone go. I rarely answer it and I check my VM twice a year to dump it. So now my phone rarely rings. I use my phone to make calls that are important but not to chat in the middle of the day. Some people will run off the road to answer their phone buried somewhere in their purse or pocket. I tell people to send me a text. I’ll read it when I have time. You can’t get sucked into a call – unless you choose to. (I also got rid of my TV)

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  3. Have I ever deliberately looked at my watch and quite sarcastically said “gee look at the time! I have to go…?”

    Yes

    Social interactions cannot be completely controlled unfortunately. As much as you may to try to avoid a certain someone for a certain reason, you will sooner than later bump into them at the grocery store. We all have plenty of good reason to avoid the irritants in our lives, but for some reason we resort to the dodge, mostly because telling the irritant off can hurt us in other areas of our lives. Especially at the workplace.

    So we are left with the politeful dodge as our last resort. Hey, whatever works. 🙂

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  4. Haha, this is cute. Having grown up (and my kids as well) pre-heavy technology, none of us is bound to it by any means. We use it, we do not allow it to rule our lives. So there’s really been no need to make excuses, just let a call go to VM or a text go ignored for awhile. The world will not end, I promise. ❤

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    1. Indeed. With my work it can be hard to be detached from electronic communication as well, but I do try to parse my time. I remember when the blackberry came out and people were talking about the stress of never being detached from work…when you add on the additional social connection it can be quite a bear. Even then there are still face to face interactions, which we might prefer, but they also take time too. It’s difficult to be master of your own time.

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      1. I get it. Now. Forgot how kids now learn with technology hardwired to their bodies. I would find it difficult to teach under those circumstances, but I guess I’m old-school. I like eye to eye contact to see if minds are actually absorbing and processing. But hey. Thanks for the clarification. Or the wake up call. 😜😘

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  5. Oh! Are we all guilty? I am spread so thin across different parts of the internet and it is virtually impossible to get to everything in a timely manner, and I can’t get anyone to work for me for free! (see how long it took to check out your blog after you came to mine) I literally don’t open some sites I know will often take hours of my day thatI need to devote somewhere else ( like I’m doing right now because I haven’t checked WP one last week or so). I must reblog this. My online life has taken over my life!!

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