A Virtual Life

Social networking can be so engrossing, that real life just passes you by...

I have 500 Facebook friends!

An online social life.

They ‘like’ the things I share,

They never give me any strife.

I’ve never met them face to face,

What difference does that make?

Though no one gives me Christmas gifts,

Or makes me birthday cake.

I’ve loads of Twitter followers,

I tweet all night and day,

With strangers often re-tweeting

The things I have to say.

It keeps me very busy,

My whole life I must compress,

Into just one hundred and forty characters,

Or less.

I had a lovely Chinese meal,

While dining all alone.

I felt the need to share it,

And got out my mobile phone.

I took a pic, uploaded it,

And captioned it in bold

On all the social networks,

While my dinner grew stone cold.

I took a cruise-ship holiday,

And sailed all round about.

I posted loads of selfies,

To show off my sun-tanned pout.

I saw some lovely scenery,

All through my smartphone lens.

Uploaded it on Instagram,

To brag to all my friends.

We’re living in the perfect time

For making loads of friends.

Communicating round the world,

The chatting never ends.

So what if you can’t shake their hand,

Or share a warm embrace?

That’s the way we live now,

We’re the Virtual Human Race.

Author's Note

If you enjoyed this poem, why not check out my new book entitled, ‘Things Can Only Get Verse' - a collection of humorous poems on a variety of subjects, including: social network addiction, self-service checkout machines, having a hangover, internet dating, dieting, online auctions, getting older, and more. Available on Amazon for only £4.00/$6.00. Life is more fun when it rhymes!

Reviews

[JoeM]

Yes, I've resisted the modern communication methods, also. I'll stick to good old fashioned emails.
I hope you are still pounding the keys to keep us entertained. I'm almost sure you don't have a irascible husband demanding your presence in the kitchen and bedroom, therby eschewing your keyboard.

[Viv Wade]

Thanks Joe. Yes, being on Facebook and Twitter would take too much time and effort, I'd rather be writing silly poems!

[Gee]

Not into the social network scene, although my wife and all of her friends are. "Just checking in" she'll say no matter where or what we're doing. A big fan of rhyming verse so liked this,killer last line

[Viv Wade]

Thanks Gee. I had a bit of a Myspace addiction years ago, which I knocked on the head as it just took up too much time! So when Facebook came along, I was happy to resist. Thanks for reading and commenting.

[Viv Wade]

Thanks, Robert. I'm not into the whole social network thing either, apart from writing sites. I was inspired to write this after reading a few articles which said that people are happier when they quit Facebook, as constantly comparing their own lives to the apparently perfect lives of their Facebook friends makes them disatisfied with their lot, as of course people only put the fun or impressive stuff on their Facebook profiles. It also amuses me to hear people planning important events in their lives such as weddings, with a view to how the photos will look on Facebook afterwards. Thanks a lot for stopping by, and commenting!

[Robert Haigh]

This is amusing and slightly sad at the same time. A satirical look at modern day life! I used to do Facebook, but decided it was not for me. I've never done Twitter, and never will. But each to their own. I DO have friends I've never met (from various poetry sites), so I too have been swept up in the 'virtual friends' thing. No harm in that! I enjoyed reading this.

[Stan Lee]

Nice poem Viv. Very real in this day and age. Just looking forward to the day when i can virtually stay in bed all day :)

[Viv Wade]

Thanks Andronicus. I think it's sad when I see so many people out and about, with no idea what's going on around them because they're glued to their phone screens. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment!