Writing: ‘What Would We Be?’ by Ashly Barrera
ASHLY BARRERA – 2nd PLACE MIDDLE SCHOOL
What Would We Be?
7th Grade, Ánimo Mae Jemison
Guiding Teacher: Yolanda Amaral
What would life be without technology?
Without our computers?
Without our iPads?
Without our phones?
Are we still going to be those
“clumsy” people our parents say we are
because of our phones?
Would we still be the “lazy” people our parents
claim us
to be?
Are we going to be those kids with parents who say
“Oh you’re sick? It’s because of that phone you use!”
Would our parents still say
“All because of that phone!” after we
lost something
we can’t find?
We spend
More
and more
And more
of our
time in our room
Not realizing how
less
time
our parents have
How less time
We all
have
We spend our time in our room
as if we are getting old
We spend our time in our room
away from
the people
we love
We don’t see how much our parents are willing to do just to spend their life
trying
to bond
with us.
Trying
to make
memories
with us.
Trying to
love
us.
They will be there not for long.
Sooner or later our parents
will be suffering with old age.
Their hearing.
Their eyesight.
Would we be willing to visit them
at
home?
The place we can forget about them in
While on
Our phones
What would life be without technology?
I remember my old teachers saying
“People may go places, even countries. But they just take pictures and post them on instagram, or other platforms for attention. They don’t actually LIVE in the moment.”
But I like
to do things
differently
He said.
I prefer enjoying my days.
Seeing things
most people can’t due to
the screens they’re
stuck on
But at least
I
enjoyed my
time.”
What would life be without technology?
I heard that
AI making music
AI making art
And I’ve even seen
AI serving people food
If this keeps happening
What do we have left?
Will we have those same struggles of being outside in
the heat
working our lives
off?
Or will that be left to a new invention
that programmers make?
What would life be without technology?
Are we even humans anymore?
Can we even struggle?
What will bring us joy again?
What will bring us happiness after
The machines
take it?
Will we be lifeless?
Sooner or later we will have no
way
To reverse what’s happened
These programmers think
technology
Is
everything.
Do they not consider how this might affect
the human economy?
How this might affect
humanity?
How will we survive?
What would life be without technology?
Will we be able to talk
To our coworkers?
To the friends we made?
To those we would meet?
To anyone?
In the old days we used to write with
a pen
and paper,
tie it to a dove’s leg
and watch
It
fly
away
Now
it’s all about messages
Flying from an invisible space
To a technological invention
Back then we had to
find
each other
Hold
Each other
See
each other
to be
together.
So again I ask you
What would life be
What would WE be
without technology?
7th Grade, Ánimo Mae Jemison
Guiding Teacher: Yolanda Amaral
