To think; when you and I are old together,
children will fire off to school by jetpack.

They will dress in ecofriendly modern space suits,
speaking only in the abbreviated tongue of text.

My parents turned in handwritten assignments.
I turn in “iWorksheets” via “Schoology,”
an app on my district-issued iPad.

On a real piece of paper, I get overwhelmed
because I cannot pinch the surface to zoom.

We are staring at screens and tiny machines.
We dim our brightness setting and call it sleep.

Technology’s blue glow fools our
brains into a constant cycle of wake.
We are self-induced insomniacs.

To think; the next generation
will learn how to hold a stylus
before a hand.