by Alison Driscoll

The defining symbol of our generation. 

Well done us.

Generation X, Why, Zzzzz’s

Millennials: entitled and overlooked

Because we are trapped in our digital age

Our ultra-slim screens and pocket sized cells

To keep us bound every hour of the day

To memes and stories and l4ls

And follower counts and post likes 

And hashtags.

The single most silencing key. 

Remember the days it was the unused Nokia button?

“When finished please press the hash key”

Its use is to end the conversation with the credit voice.

And yet we punctuate our lives with them seeking credit from whom?

The little metal grates littering our feeds

Saying nothing. Trying to say everything.

That old picture from 2010 – better wait til Thursday #tbt

The face you’ve been given slimmed with browns and golds –

#MUA or My Unoriginal Aesthetic.

#nomakeupselfie but god bless Dogpatch and never Kelvin

#goals sorry where’s the net?

#I’mafraud #error because correct grammar isn’t recognised.

Is the cyber jail cell worth all those brain cells?

If you hashtag you become one of millions who have selfied that day.

You become the ten-a-penny, the carbon copy 

The stream of faces and people who’ve categorised their life like yours

Think you’re unique? Your hashtag disagrees. 

Is their comfort in the crowd? Better work on your bleat.

Millennials.We are meant to be unique.

But we are pushing buttons not boundaries,

And we’re all coming out the same.

#generationf’d