The little rectangles that own us
more than we’d ever admit.
We cling to them like lifelines,
but they drain more than they give.

Take them away
and maybe people would finally remember
what boundaries are.
No more entitlement to instant replies,
no more “?” as a guilt trip,
no more being punished
for daring to exist offline.

Life wouldn’t get twisted
into misread texts and passive-aggressive punctuation.
We’d have to speak.
Out loud, with real voices.
Exposing those hiding behind screens.
Transparency terrifying them, because they might really be seen.

And let’s not ignore the anxiety tax:
We’re fed a constant drip of news
we were never meant to carry.
Tragedies across the globe
delivered before breakfast,
opinions we didn’t ask for,
chaos we can’t fix.
Without a cell phone,
half the things we stress over
wouldn’t even reach us.

We might actually look up, too.
Notice the world
With its brutality and its beauty.
Its everything we scroll past
because we’re too addicted
to the glowing distraction.

And the money we pour into these things…
the pointless upgrades,
the cases, the cables,
the repairs, and replacements.
All for a piece of tech
that clearly stresses us out.

Take away the cell phone
and life wouldn’t be as harsh.
It would be quieter,
more spacious,
more ours.
Less noise, less pressure,
less manufactured urgency.
More peace in the places
we forgot peace could exist.

We might finally notice
our own thoughts again.
Hear the world around us
instead of the notifications.
And live instead of react.