Coleman Rohde

2/1/21

Touchscreen Poem Reflection

Marshall Davis Jones, a young man who grew up in the coming age of the internet,

reflects on the state of social media, computers, and the digital age in relation to the human

experience in his work, “Touchscreen”. In the very beginning of the poem Jones opens up with

the “i-person”. With this he asserts a corruption of personhood which technology has presented

where a person is made into an almost commercial product. The line “I face facebook more than

books face me” reveals that Jones believes technology has also extended to a corruption of

information. Many people turn to facebook and other social media where they find

misinformation rather than academic sources. Jones then goes on to talk about how many people

on social media have inflated social circles online. Someone may have 3000 friends on facebook

but only 5 friends they can count on in real life and yet people tend to spend more time and

energy on social media where those social relationships are much more shallow. Jones then

relates the technological advancements of the web to a sort of ‘de-evolution’ where humans used

to descend from trees to stand upright but now we sit hunched over at computer desktops. It is as

if what has been heralded as the next step in human development is a step backwards which does

not bring comfort to the human experience but rather anxiety and isolation. He also makes an

allusion to the bible with the garden of eden and asserts that “apple-picking has always come at a

great cost” relating the story of Eve and the apple tree to how consumers flock to apple products,

each to their detriment. Next he discusses how in a way “money can buy love” on the internet

through sources such as adult sites with explicit material. Even without the transaction of money

social media is still used to communicate feelings of love or care as people through messaging
services. Often these messaging services are helpful but they can also be detrimental because

they lack the nuance of real, personal experience. Overall, Jones views the advancement of

technology in relation to the human experience to be a detriment.