Spoken Word: ‘Scroll Swipe Click to Freedom’ by Esmeralda Benitez
Scroll Swipe Click to Freedom
11th Grade, Ánimo Jackie Robinson
Guiding Teacher: Rachel Kopera
Pixels! Bright lights! Yellow, Blue, Green, Red!
They flicker like fireflies meant to brighten my future—
but instead, the pixels push into deep, dark thoughts.
I DON’T want out!
I DON’T want anyone to see!
Now my whole world is pushed inward—
Humanity is enveloped by machines.
I lay in bed, weighed down by my machine,
staring at the ceiling like a prisoner.
Thoughts of all the things I have to do—
Drowning and suffocating me!
This weight is too heavy to push off.
I just can’t quite seem
to shake off my need to endlessly
scroll and scroll.
Each click, something different!
Machines devouring my time.
Scroll, swipe, click.
Scroll, swipe, click.
Scroll, swipe, click.
Digging and digging deeper!
The pixels become dark.
Ughh… I’m SO BORED.
But I’m caught in this repeating cycle!
I CLOSE THE APP!
Five seconds later—
I OPEN THE SAME DAMN APP!
Morning melts into a sepia afternoon,
and afternoon is consumed
quickly by nightfall.
Drowning! No air!
SHOOT, that assignment is due at 11:59!
I realize I haven’t done anything.
I haven’t written,
I haven’t cleaned,
I haven’t even showered!
The machine has my eyes,
my mind—
my eyes are inward like a zombie.
They’re everywhere:
In every video that I play,
In every block I place,
Every clash and colorful explosion I see.
I need to match the ‘L’ with the square
and the square with the ‘L’ or else …
I’ll Lose!
It’s like a symphony of popping sounds.
Every “GREAT!” and “AMAZING!” I hear
makes me believe I’m closer and closer to beating my high score:
10, 40, 100, 1000…
The number climbs higher and higher—
each one making me feel more and more anxious.
I need to get higher!
60!
I need to make space—
POOF.
A red glow.
I Lost.
No. No! I LOST!
Again, again!
One more!
One more then I’ll go outside.
One more! Then I’ll do my homework.
One more! Then I’ll text her back.
One turns into two,
One turns into too many.
I’m lost and stuck in this maze—
This maze where I have my head on backward.
Backward enough?
I keep adding more fuel to the fire.
I’m waiting for my knight in shining armor—
someone or something to set me free.
But…
help ISN’T coming.
What I don’t realize is—
I can put on the armor myself.
I can save myself.
I have to tug on this bug that is suffocating me—
this bug that doesn’t allow me to breathe.
Finding our humanity within ourselves
and not these machines
means recognizing and embracing
ourselves and those around us.
Compassion, empathy, and kindness
are what will set us free
and out into the world—
Not these pixels.
We need to breathe.
We need to cry.
We need to laugh.
We need to love.
