The creaking silence of age
Echoes through the streets
Sounds like old wooden floors under heavy feet
All of the children once running around have evacuated
Or maybe they just disappeared
Where have all the children gone?

-Joseph Kerschbaum

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When I was young, my friends and I would play on the playground - sometimes until the streetlights would come on, but children today are more likely to be indoors, playing video games, watching tv, or on their phones. When I drive by parks and playgrounds, they seem deserted; the slides and jungle gyms appear to be monoliths to a more innocent time. I think ‘where have all the children gone’. Today’s news is full of stories about children being abducted or victims of school shootings. Childhood these days is much more complex. These incidents coupled with the influx of technology makes me wonder: ‘where have all the children gone’.