The Modal Trap

watch out

lest you get trapped in a modal

that is asking you to accept

without reading the details

a privacy update

the service terms

an agreement to share

your data and behavior

with the handy overlords of your mobile device

who you feed with your thumb

clicks and drags and swipes and scrolls

and pinches in and out

with your slime covered eyes that can’t look away

from the glowing screen

that has become our idol

and a tool so useful we cannot leave home without

so heed this warning and this advice

for the moment when you find yourself

within a small dialog

that has popped up and says nothing

but Accept

there are ways around the small island

and there are rules of the developers of the net

that are not written but followed anyway

as a small token and nod to human ethics

one of which is that a user must be able to close a modal

by clicking outside of it–

a sort of built-in prevention and thwarting

of attempts to imprison the client–

but there is nothing to say you can’t paint the door of the cell

so that it looks like the entrance of a five star hotel