tomorrow morning
i want to wake up early
sit on the floor and
stare at the TV
sit on the floor and
stare at the wall
next to the TV
sit on the floor and
stare at my hands
in front of the wall
next to the TV
i’ve only ever been able
to pretend to watch TV
i am asserting that yes,
i have free time, that yes,
since our days of
picking berries
digging up roots
and whatever else it is
we used to do
we have moved
in some direction
This is a poem about technology and work. I love them both. I hate them both. I am very confused about them both.
Sometimes modern screen technology, and the “work” we do with it, seems completely pointless to me.
It seems like an entire world that we’re pretending exists, only to realize later, on our deathbeds perhaps, that it was all constructed. And for what? On many levels, these worlds were built not with our needs in mind, but with a broad, sometimes innocently unaware motive of profit and coercion to a norm, for the intangible benefit of a deep sense of social and financial security for a few “important” or “smart” individuals.
I found it interesting to consider the parallels with the foundational North American childhood experience of watching early morning Saturday cartoons. The constructed world is an interesting world to engage with, and in our early years it feels like a genuinely immersive and almost addictively positive experience. Yet looking back, I feel a strange mix of nostalgia, endearment at my tendency to be so immersed and committed to the world, and yet also a tinge of shame and disappointment for having been manipulated in some way.
At the same time, the fact that we have the time to construct these worlds, to push and pull each other into them, is in a strange way a reassuring sign that our basic needs are met.
As much as I continue to dream of more intentionally constructed worlds, motivated by more collective needs, and without the astronomically harmful “side effects” of modern business, I also acknowledge that in some way, the approach we continue to take has gotten us this far. I do not have to confront giant ground sloths, sift through bushes of potentially poisonous berries, or decide whether the food in front of me is too rotten to eat or not. I got to watch cartoons in my childhood instead of working 12 hour days at a sewing factory. At a very high level, this seems like a good direction.
I hope that we can continue to move in some direction. I hope that we can continue to examine that direction, to be intentional about it, to do our best to shape it.
Very much inspired by a poem by Ron Padgett about Totally Watching Television; and also the song Coffee & TV by Blur.