LinkedIn notification you started a new position Senior Analyst at a Fortune 500

I click I read I see your professional headshot polished successful distant

Facebook notification you're tagged in 47 photos from your work retreat in Colorado

I scroll through them faces I don't know inside jokes in the comments I don't understand

Instagram notification you posted a story your new apartment city view hardwood floors

I watch it it expires in 24 hours so does my glimpse into your life

Twitter notification you retweeted an industry article 4:32 PM on a Tuesday

I favorite it you don't notice I'm just one of 847 followers watching

This is how I know you now

Through algorithms and updates

Through curated highlight reels

Through what you choose to share with strangers

Which includes me now I'm just another stranger

Watching from the feed

LinkedIn notification says you got promoted again

Instagram notification shows you're living well

Facebook notification says it's your birthday

I comment happy birthday with everyone else

This is our friendship now reduced to notifications

Digital updates replacing conversations

I know your career moves but not how you're feeling

LinkedIn notification is the only way I'm hearing

About your life about your world

LinkedIn notification digital distance

That's our friendship now just algorithm assistance

You updated your profile picture new haircut new confidence new life phase

I see it in my feed between someone's baby photos and someone's vacation

I remember when I'd be the first to know about your haircut see it in person

Now I'm just one of 1200 people getting the update simultaneously

LinkedIn says you got endorsed for 12 skills by people with impressive titles

I don't endorse you because that feels strange impersonal insufficient

For what we used to be for what we used to mean to each other

So I just watch just scroll just collect information from a distance

This is how I know you now

Through profile updates and posts

Through career milestones shared publicly

Through what the algorithm shows me

Which is everything and nothing

All surface no depth

LinkedIn notification says you changed companies again

Instagram notification shows you're traveling to places I can't afford

Facebook notification says you're in a relationship

I react with a heart emoji feeling empty feeling bored

This is our friendship now reduced to notifications

Digital presence replacing actual relations

I know your resume but not your real life

LinkedIn notification cuts like a knife

Reminding me we're strangers

LinkedIn notification digital distance

That's our friendship now just public existence

Sometimes I start to message you

Type out how are you really doing

But I delete it because

We're not those people anymore

We're not the kind of friends who ask that

We're the kind of friends who watch from feeds

Who know each other's public faces

But not each other's private needs

And I miss the version of us

That didn't need algorithms to connect

That didn't need notifications

To know what the other person's life looked like

But that version doesn't exist anymore

So I just scroll just watch just witness

Your life from the outside

Through whatever the algorithm decides to show me

Today

LinkedIn notification says you're speaking at a conference

Instagram notification shows you're successful and happy

Facebook notification says we haven't talked in three years

But we're still connected digitally barely

This is our friendship now just notifications

Digital updates algorithm relations

I know your career arc but nothing about your soul

LinkedIn notification is how I watch you from this hole

Of distance of time of different lives

LinkedIn notification digital distance

That's our friendship now just online existence

Just pixels and updates and algorithmic persistence

That we're still somehow friends

You got a new job

You're engaged

You moved to New York

And I'm still just watching

From my feed