Low Tech Friend in a High Tech World

By Ben Fetterman

In an age of instant gratifications,
When the time between sending and receiving messages
Is measured in milliseconds,
And a day between sending a message and receiving a reply,
Is considered an agonizing eternity,
Imagine, if you will,
Having to wait a week,
To get a one text reply
To an entire week of back texts,
Sent at the modern pace.
Suddenly the prospect of sending letters comes back in vogue.
As it long as it takes to get all the way there,
And the reply to come all the way back,
The information density makes the wait worthwhile.
A low tech friend
In a high tech world
Really makes you take a step back,
And think about your priorities.
What’s important enough to put in a letter,
That will still be relevant in a week,
When they finally receive it.
This suddenly puts your momentary woes
And transitory joys,
Into perspective
In this world of rapid swings from bliss to melancholy and back.
These moments,
Though they sum up into the entirety of your life,
Don’t usually matter individually.
Low tech friends in a high tech world
Help keep you grounded
And everything
In perspective.