An excellent poem about an ignored addiction/malady of epic proportions. I traded my smartphone for a flip-phone about eight years ago, and people look at me like I'm a dinosaur. I was every-bit-as-much addicted to my smartphone as I was to alcohol and cigarettes in years past.

The first step of the 12-step recovery program in Alcoholics Anonymous states, "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol and that our lives had become unmanageable." Nobody wants to admit that they are addicted to their phone, and very few will admit it. Especially since it's accepted by everyone. Almost everyone, that is.

When my boss told me I would have to get a smartphone to remotely access the computer at work using layered security, I said, "I think I'll get a new job, instead." He recanted and incorporated flip-phone technology into their layered-security procedures--just for me.

Scott

Hi Michael, this is hard hitting and pretty factual I would think - accounts of cell phone abuse and addiction - cleverly listed in verse.
Warm greetings from Montefrio, Spain.

Wouldn't have one of those nasty things if you paid me! It is hard enough for a disabled person to get around, without people with their faces glued to some screen. You painted a great picture of the problem with your words. I doubt they will ever have CPAs (cell phone anonymous)but they sure should.

I am with you! How I dislike these annoyances. I have purposely chosen an old flip phone. I use it to talk on and nothing else. Wishing other people would two the things in their glove box and not have them out when eating, driving, walking, and engaging in other interactive activities. We are losing ourselves.

Well written warning, Michael!

you may be right, for myself, my addictive 'drug' of choice is genealogy

enjoyed your poem, we do seem to see cell phones in nearly every hand or pocket,

mine never rings, i never turn the ringer on ... have one more ancestor to locate



never stop writing!
m

Excellent poetic summary about this addictive trend.
We better take heed to this potent pastime
Less we find the loss of another cell phone friend. Amen!

Hi Mike
Great job, it could end= When I am trying to talk to you
you don't hear or can not see
Your nose is in deep decline
lost in Ciber- ness

I just throw it in as pun for fun
ZThanks Darryl Ehlers

Well said and completely without any signs of forced rhyming words. Kudos on your hitting most every instance where the addiction takes place.

Oh Nichael, this one hit home...the cell phone almost caused a divorce, my husband discovered I was sleeping with it....and it was a " smartphone" so his ego was challenged ! gotcha cool write (:

I will just say no, but to you, not to cell phone usage, as I guess I am addicted as the next person though I rarely use it like today's kids that have grown up using it...-e-

You have surely hit a sore point by the length and number of your reviews. My personal addiction is to the social media, like this one, where I'm lured to post and blog. I'm going to turn it off today to write my book. I will. I promise. Soon.

I see people bump into one another at the mall while walking and texting. Driving???? NO!!!!! Don't do it. "Don't text and drive!" should be posted everywhere just like "Don't drink and drive!".

Love ya!

Jane

A major form of distraction and the way that person-to-person communication is being destroyed. Learning concepts requires concentration and focus. The constant intrusion of the cell phone breaks up this concentration, so that subjects very important to society are being watered down by the multitasking process that has taken over.

On the positive side, cell phones provide lots of information that makes everyone more informed. They also enable us to communicate when we are in danger and help us be located, saving countless lives and much time. The video capabilities of smartphones are now revealing untold abuses that have been hidden forever. All in all, the good of cell phones outweighs the bad.

I don't have a cell phone because I can't physically handle one. Otherwise, I probably would. I am a bit annoyed when I am asked to provide my "mobile or cell phone" as an only choice on Internet transactions. Also, if I am required to communicate in texting as though everyone did.

Ron

Well said Michael. I don't use one myself but rarely for comm when away from home. ten minutes in a month would be a lot for me. Your Poem is right on. It's an addiction like any other drug.

Finally someone tackled this subject, what better person than you, Michael. As a teacher, they drive me mad and no one knows better than I the kind of addiction they create. Cell phone are forbidden in my classroom because I know from experience that students simply cannot resist no matter how much I yell at them. I personally don't even have a cell phone. I have an old $20 Nokia the university gave me when I first arrived, like Jerry say, to make and receive calls and even that is a minimum. So, I am addiction free. However, when I walk through the corridors of academia, I continually bump into mindless nerds with their heads sunk in cyber-land. John

I couldn't agree more, Michael. I have a cell phone. I use it to answer phone calls. I use it to make phone calls. That's it! I don't text, and if you text me I won't answer. I don't know how to text. I do not want to learn how to text. I do not keep it in my hand every waking hour.