Question

Here's something that i wrote when i felt as if i was losing my family and my old best friend. Feedback and opinions are appreciated. Thank you.
We scroll through lives like headlines,
double tap and keep the pace,
but somehow all these “connections”
leave an empty kind of space.

Plans are made in group chat windows,
blue and gray in endless streams,
yet nobody shows up in person
for the hearts behind the screens.

“I’m busy” is the new “I’m sorry,”
“I’ll call you” drifts into the air,
we trade our time for tiny numbers,
and act like that is fair.

Abuela waits beside the window,
phone asleep, her house too still,
while we chase another deadline,
another like, another thrill.

amigos become just “mutual follows,”
Familia turns to background sound,
we normalize the disappearing
and pretend we’re still around.

We joke that we’re all “anti-social,”
laugh it off and change the theme,
but deep inside there’s quiet aching
for the love we left unseen.

When did “seen” replace “I see you”?
When did “K” replace “I care”?
When did we grow used to losing
every bond we didn’t spare?

Maybe “normal” needs re-writing,
maybe “busy” isn’t best,
maybe love is in the small things
that we never should forget:

Answer calls before they echo,
hold a hug a second more,
ask “You good?” and really mean it,
sit and listen, not just score.

Because one day, the room falls silent,
no new texts, no one online,
and we’ll wish we’d held more tightly
to the hands we left behind.

So let’s unlearn this cold indifference,
choose to show up, make it clear:
in a world that’s numb to caring,
let’s make valuing people
the new “normal” we hold dear.

Answer 1

This really stayed with me. Every line feels painfully real, like you put words to something so many of us feel but don’t know how to say. The way you talk about “connections” still feeling empty, group chats replacing real presence, and love turning into background noiseit hurt in the quietest, truest way. The part about “I’m busy” becoming the new “I’m sorry” and “I’ll call you” drifting away hit especially hard. It’s heartbreaking how normal it’s become to disappear from the people who matter most and call it life being “busy.” And the image of Abuela waiting by the window… that one really stopped me. It shows the cost of all this so clearly the people who love us the most are the ones left waiting while the world rushes past them.I also love how you don’t just name the problem, you question it. Asking when “seen” replaced “I see you” and when “ok” replaced real care is so powerful. It makes you stop and reflect on how much we’ve accepted distance as normal.The ending gives me hope though. The idea that maybe love still lives in the small things we forgot that choosing to show up, to listen, to hold on a second longer, could be an act of rebellion in a world that numbs itself that’s beautiful. This feels like a reminder, not just a poem. Thank you for sharing something so honest and vulnerable. It made me reflect on my own relationships and how I show up for people. Your words matter, and they’re needed more than you probably realize.