Shut the phones off, hold calls

Instagram, Facebook, TikTok

Enrolled us in experimental protocols

Drip drip drip, whoops, got the dose wrong

Shut the phones off, hold calls

Algorithm built to control thoughts

Even grown folks’ self-control’s gone

How much you think a sixteen-year-old’s got?!

Souls lost, they used to seem fine 

Now it’s eight hours a day of screen time

Bare minimum, to keep me in the loop

Snapchat delivers giggles at middle school

Nine, ten, eleven, all my friends got the iPhone

And now it’s all I’m ever lookin’ at when I’m home

Whole social life in my side pocket

Watch as anxiety and depression skyrocket

Stolen focus, check it, check it, check it

I’m getting multiple notifications every second

From the infinite scroll, there’s no place it end

Plus no time spent face-to-face with friends

What was I thinkin’ about? I’ll just link to the cloud

And take a sip from the firehouse, drinkin’ it down

Plus I think about it every second; that’s a wicked habit

The true cost is what you have to give up to have it

We used to send the kids outside

Go play, go figure it out, you’ll be fine

Now they stay with connected devices, inside

Straight mental developmental thalidomide

Adolescence, those years are awkward

Flirting, teasing, tears and gossip

Synchronized, visceral, real-time bodies

Social media is an experience blocker

Shut the phones off, hold calls

Instagram, Facebook, TikTok

Enrolled us in experimental protocols

Drip drip drip, whoops, got the dose wrong

Shut the phones off, hold calls

Algorithm built to control thoughts

Even grown folks’ self-control’s gone

How much you think a thirteen-year-old’s got?!

Shut the phones off, hold calls

Shut the phones off, hold calls

Phones off, hold calls

Quick, before another soul’s lost

Souls lost, mom and dad live with regrets

Too sensible to buy their kid cigarettes

But not sensible enough to limit tech

Too focussed on imaginary physical threats

Gen X, I ran wild as a seven-year-old

In the woods, default “Discover Mode”

Risk-takin’ something I could figure on my own

Plus with my friends, Huck Finn in the zone

No phones, just time and a sense of adventure

Not subject to parental intervention

Fool around and suffer the consequences

Confidence won from that independence

I’ve heard the objections: “It’s something strange!”

But if you’re over 35 you grew up the same

Unsupervised play wired up our brains

And now you wanna take it away

And raise a whole generation on play deprivation

Distracted, now the screens get to raise them

Wilderness vacant, forgiveness and patience

No longer plays, straight degradation

Digital natives, chronically anxious

Afraid to get shamed, Instagram famous

No discover mode, flight-mode defensive

Safe spaces from micro-aggressions

Demanded, for the tense and distracted

Guinea pigs in the lab, no one planned it

Collective action problem, can’t crack it

Can’t quit, left out if you don’t have it

Every act in public, post and track it

Scroll and text that emoji back quick

Arrested development, dopamine addicts

It’s the phone habit

Shut the phones off, hold calls

Instagram, Facebook, TikTok

Enrolled us in experimental protocols

Drip drip drip, whoops, got the dose wrong

Shut the phones off, hold calls

Algorithm built to control thoughts

Even grown folks’ self-control’s gone

How much you think a ten-year-old’s got?!

Shut the phones off, hold calls

Shut the phones off, hold calls

Phones off, hold calls

Before another soul’s lost

If your self-control’s gone

How much you think a ten-year-old’s got?