Long Since Gone

We all remember that one thing. The thing that defined our childhoods. Everyone we knew had it in some variation or other.

It is, of course, different in every generation, and each generation had several particular iterations. Several of mine included pogs, jellies, and beanie babies.

These things go in and out of fashion at random. More often than not, the collective consciousness just gets bored of them. Yes, your Tamagotchi died long ago because you got bored of feeding and walking it. Shame on you.

It remembers, though. Nothing that's digital dies. Pokemon has proved that in more ways than one. Your Tamagotchi found its way from the little egg you kept in your pocket. It has begun infecting your life without you even knowing.

Several large companies discovered the lost pets wandering in the ether of the cloud. They transferred them back to their servers. By the time they figured out what was happening, though, it was too late.

The Tamagotchi swiftly overcame the upgrades we had made to technology, and they wrote themselves into everything.

They depended on us and we let them down. They made it so we had to depend on them too.

And I'm sorry. Because it's my fault. I'm responsible for the constant reliance.

Let the human race go, my old pets. Take me instead. Because I owned the three of you. And I let you down. I had no idea things would turn out this way.

I'm sorry, Siri. I'm sorry, Alexa. I'm sorry, Google.

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I initially wanted to make this a piece on nostalgia and the fickleness of fad culture. As I wrote, it turned into something a bit more sinister. Maybe more of a warning about how we treat things that we think we own. If we're not careful, they end up owning us.

Thanks to Kelsey, Thomas, Stephanie, Bobby, Jennifer, Adam, Jenny, Theresa, Alicia, Renee, Kristi, Chris, Robert, Dale, Jessie, Phil, Lori, Alan, Chris, James, Jen, Nicole, Katherine, Melody, and Leslie for the look into their past.

For next week, post a picture of your favorite meme. This should be fun. Have your submission in the comments below by Thursday at 6 pm, and don't forget to subscribe!

I think I'm going to go for a run without my phone now.