The Old Ways

We live in an age \Where the virtual page Takes centre stage Who needs a face Or a voice To converse or make a choice Or pay a bill Society is going downhill Mobile phones that can do almost anything Are socially dictating What almost everyone is saying and doing The fact that I am writing this on a computer Only reinforces that comment pointer Even children are 'locked in' Being born in this time it seems its genetically programmed in But what of the books that catalogue histories long past And the the old building made to last And concern for the natural world is disappearing fast And when people laugh Usually because of some different person they pass I feel out of place Like a snail in race And I don't want to pick up the pace Because I prefer the old ways When people say-most of the time-something kind to someone coming their way And not being connected digitally was ok People watch videos and listen to records and cassette tapes They went to the library and to the shops Now its all online-ok if something at the store is out of stock Or your housebound but have internet but there was still the landline but that's now gone Call me a square peg-if anyone even knows what that means now But we managed to negotiate life and get around Without endless subscriptions logins and digital worlds where the soul drowns There are many who would disagree But I don't feel that we are free The world our families fought and sometimes died for Is not the one outside our doors And people have forgotten how to talk They can swear and be unpleasant Ruin someone's life with something they've said After hearing it from a so called friend Lets rewind back a few years To a world without social paranoia and chronic fears Of who someone is and what they might do when they get near Our little space Lets the first few words you say To a new face Be kind and nice Get to know them enough to form a justified opinion before believing the lies So much hate and unwarranted dislike Too easily and too early crawls inside Even before some people are adults This is the state of the world So how about we just let go Of the pattern we've come to know And show some love You don't need to believe in a god above Or have absolute trust In fact some distance is good But don't take it for granted That everyone's a monster We can make this life better If connect directly and stop perceiving each other Based on another