Nomophobia

Perhaps nomophobia

Is not only about addiction

Or obsession;

Perhaps what defines my irresistible urge

That compulsion

To unlock and stare

At a screen that offers

No respite

Is not really about the chats

Or the calls

Downloads

Other worlds

Or the swipes left and right;

And the panic attacks not about

The fear of missing on a vital

Piece of social life

Or cyber strife

But just…

Well,

What if I say

All I care about

Is not what meets my gaze

On the glaring screen

But what does not –

What if the solace I find

In technology

Is this new paradigm,

This capacity,

Of passing people without really

Looking at them,

Smiling at them,

Yes, the little black contraption

Gives me the power

To pretend

To be like everyone else –

Self-absorbed,

Busy with many private lives

Except those lives are all

In my head,

And not the phone.

.

And so as I spy

Around the corner

Someone new yet familiar,

An old acquaintance,

A nameless face,

I pick on the phone

And walk on

Seemingly oblivious.

No awkward smiles

No lopsided glances,

No irrelevant greetings,

No small talk!

.

I sign in peace

As I clutch my phone

And hurry on –

A normal adult being.