My old phone wasn't really all that old;
Only two years -- just TWO, I repeat.
I was really just learning to use it
When it was declared obsolete.
So, off to the phone store with dragging feet,
Protesting all the way to town.
The clerk showed us first a rectangular thing:
"It's the newest phone around."
My resident "techie" had done his research
And thought this the one to buy.
He asked me politely "What do you think?"
I didn't even know enough to try!
It was bigger and heavier than my old phone;
More weight for its bigger brain!
It did more stuff, and cost more, of course,
A major pocketbook drain.
"Touch here to turn on; touch here to text;
Touch here to search Internet.
Touch here for the phone; here for contacts..."
And some things I'd not heard of yet!
So here I sit with that "phone" in my hand.
I can turn it on -- but then what?
I'll start punching buttons and see what comes.
With some luck, I may find the right spot!
Texting is something that's new to me;
There's lots I don't know, you'll see.
To send a text message, I must learn
To spell words quite differently!
For sixty-five years I've always been proud
To spell each word "by the book."
Now, all of a sudden, I must write
How words sound and not how they look!
This "smart phone" technology's changing
Our speech patterns, too, day by day.
No longer the phrase, "I can do that."
"I've got an app for that" we now say.
I thought that the plan for technology
Was to simplify our work and life.
But it seems to me it's just speeded us up
And added to our stress and strife.
Whatever happened to telephones
That just sent or received a call?
No bells, no whistles, and no fancy apps;
A phone was a phone, that's all!
I don't trust machines that know more than I
And can thus change society.
This phone is a perfect example, because
It's even changing me!
