This poem will either make you nostalgic for a time you never lived through or convince you that we’ve accidentally created the most sophisticated torture device in human history and you’re all just walking around pretending it’s normal.

Listen, children of the digital age, 

let me tell you about a time 

when human connection 

wasn’t reduced to algorithmic interactions 

and dopamine-triggered thumb spasms. 

Your generation thinks you invented anxiety, 

but we had to actually work for ours 

and somehow we were still happier than you are 

with your infinite entertainment and zero attention spans.

You missed the last era when life felt like an adventure by default, 

when your brain wasn’t hijacked by notification addiction
disguised as communication tools. 

You missed a time when mystery was normal, 

when waiting was a skill instead of torture, 

when uncertainty felt like possibility 

instead of a technological failure.