freewriting 22 apr 2019
I'm at a cafe. there are couples sitting at tables on a date, students writing furiously in preparation for final exams. there are families crammed into a booth for a mid-afternoon snack, business executives lounging around with a coffee. the cafe is modern, sleek, with wooden and industrial elements integrated into its interior. it's a typical cafe that millennials would patronise.

I'm sitting at this table, writing this as a writing exercise. I'm trying to write a book - but have no inspiration. I have no idea what I'm typing now; it is all in vain. I had aimlessly opened another app, to try and entertain myself for I was bored to death and simply couldn't think of what to write. I scrolled through my sports updates, an occasional grin or frown crossing my face as I saw the results of matches that had been played last night. I had opened up Instagram and scrolled through my feed, randomly liking posts. I had looked at them, all bright pictures with pastel colours and tapped the picture twice, but yet my brain didn't really process them. I tapped through Instagram stories, viewing them so fast that the short video clips and snaps were all a blur. I had exhausted every social media app that I had, played every game I had on my phone (not that there's many) and still I had no idea what to do. and here I am again, back on this document, a writing exercise to stimulate some brain juice.

I stare at the world as it goes by. the couples at the tables are on their phones, smiles on their faces as they text text friends rather than talk to their date.
students scroll idly on social media, their half-done essay still on the cafe table. as the minutes go by, the essay is left neglected and unfinished as the students amuse themselves with their devices and the web.

families, who had gone to the cafe to bond and talk, parents to ask their children about their lives, how their day had gone, are now on their devices, the cake and various snacks that they had ordered left partially eaten on their plates. children smile at a video about memes, a man clapping his hands and shouting 'meme review!', teenage girls posing for Snapchat, using filters to make their eyes bigger and their smiles wider; their faces clearer and their lips redder. boys' phones are pressed up against their faces, their fingers moving at the speed of light across the screen. their eyes are glued to their screen and are filled with determination and a look of concentration - all they want is that victory royale, the most kills among those in their multiplayer server. parents are on their phones too, mothers discussing their kids' school lives and tuition matters with other mothers, fathers texting one another excitedly in anticipation of the upcoming football match.

a cafe is a place to meet, a place to laugh together, to eat, to reminisce about and create new memories.

a cafe should be filled with the sound of chatter, the sound of laughter.

but all is silent.

as night falls, everyone is still sitting at their tables, the glow of their devices illuminating their features. but one by one, the glow disappears, and people are suddenly patting their pockets, feeling around on the table for a familiar rectangular shaped object.

but they find nothing, for the phones have disapp|

All changes saved in Drive.

a/n: hello my dudes, i actually don't use wattpad anymore, you can find this (and more of my writing somewhere among all the football) on tumblr at https://mayouwalkwithdambluberries.tumblr.com . yeah i wrote this for a setting description exercise in my writing elective and i think it's an accurate representation of how phones are taking over our irl relationships with actual humans.
in case yall don't get the last part, it's the cursor still blinking at the end of an unfinished word, as the author's phone disappeared too. and then 'all changed saved in drive' is just something that google docs always has there when you go offline.