Thursday 17 September 2020

Cyberland

 

(Picture Credit - Universal Production Music)

In Cyberland, Microsoft is King

And we all pray to Google.

There is an Apple Resistance,

And Yahoo keeps on yelling,

But Microsoft is King.

 

Where did Jeeves go?

Remember him, you oldies?

A smiling Hitchcock fatty

You could ask things.

 

Remember Bebo and MySpace too.

But now we Snapchat through the day

And ask folk WhatsApp.

All in an Instagram.

(My Custom Dictionary

Is filling with new words).

 

So now it’s time for Tik Tok.

(See what I did there?)

That’s if the Americans allow it!

And much more no doubt.

Instagram Gratification

Flashing images

And clips.

No time for tedious talking

On landline phones

Or, heaven forbid,

Face to face conversation.

 

Writing – or rather typing – too is clipped

With lols & rofls & tbfs.

Lazy language

Tweets in textese

Fast and fleeting.

Facebook Funnies

With bouncy banter.

 

As a loyal subject of Cyberland

I do confess

To many an hour

Sifting through Facebook Memories

Even improving old posts

With coloured backgrounds

And sharper edits.

Addictive Internet indeed.

 

Yet

In years to come

Will we laugh loudly

At the mention of Google

And all the names I’ve said

Like we snigger at Bebo, MySpace

And Nokia Mobiles now?

 

The tsunami of technological change

Sweeps over our heads

Smashing the past:

Leading us

To who knows where.

For better or worse

Who can say?

Wherever we are going,

We are well on the way.

 

Paul Butters

 

© PB 17\9\2020.

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