Look Up!

I have 422 friends, yet I am lonely.

I speak to all of them everyday, yet none of them really know me.

The problem I have sits in the spaces between,

looking into their eyes, or at a name on a screen.

I took a step back, and opened my eyes,

I looked around, and then realised

that this media we call social, is anything but

when we open our computers, and it’s our doors we shut.

All this technology we have, it’s just an illusion,

of community, companionship, a sense of inclusion

yet when you step away from this device of delusion,

you awaken to see, a world of confusion.

A world where we’re slaves to the technology we mastered,

where our information gets sold by some rich greedy bastard.

A world of self-interest, self-image, self-promotion,

where we share all our best bits, but leave out the emotion.

We are at our most happy with an experience we share,

but is it the same if no one is there.

Be there for you friends, and they’ll be there too,

but no one will be, if a group message will do.

We edit and exaggerate, we crave adulation,

we pretend we don’t notice the social isolation.

We put our words into order, until our lives are glistening,

we don’t even know if anyone is listening.

Being alone isn’t the problem, let me just emphasize,

that if you read a book, paint a picture, or do some exercise,

you are being productive, and present, not reserved or recluse,

you’re being awake and attentive, and putting your time to good use.

So when you’re in public, and you start to feel alone,

put your hands behind your head, and step away from the phone.

You don’t need to stare at your menu, or at your contact list,

just talk to one another, and learn to co-exist.

I can’t stand to hear the silence, of a busy commuter train,

when no one wants to talk through the fear of looking insane.

We’re becoming unsocial, it no longer satisfies

to engage with one another, and look into someone’s eyes.

We’re surrounded by children, who since they were born,

watch us living like robots, and think it’s the norm.

It’s not very likely you will make world’s greatest dad,

if you cant entertain a child without a using an iPad.

When I was a child, I would never be home,

I’d be out with my friends, on our bikes we would roam.

We’d ware holes in our trainers, and graze up our knees;

we’d build our own clubhouse, high up in the trees.

Now the parks are so quiet, it gives me a chill

to see no children outside and the swings hanging still.

There’s no skipping or hopscotch, no church and no steeple,

we’re a generation of idiots, smart phones and dumb people.

Look Up - Gary Turk (Subtitulado) Link!