This generation is justly proud
Of its skills of communication
Texts and phone calls circle the world
From nation to nation.
With Twitter and Facebook,
A comment can go viral in hours
One realises social media sites
Have very wide ranging powers.
Photos are taken by the thousand
And stored on a mobile phone.
Unlike Egyptian hieroglyphs
They are not carved in stone.
Built-in obsolescence
Is part of life today –
By the time you understand your model
The next one is on the way.
Roman wood strips – Chinese bamboo –
Indus valley tablets of baked clay –
Iraqi cuneiform, vellum – parchment
Even papyrus doesn’t always decay.
Our data is “cloud based” and ephemeral ,
They cast theirs in metal, clay or stone
And will probably still be there
When we have lost our own.
January 2014
