Look Up by Gary Turk

Last year I felt challenged about whether I was Connected or Disconnected especially after reading How to Miss a Childhood.

A few weeks ago I watched Captivated and was made aware of the impact of smart phone technology on my world at home.  As a result I have been trying to put my phone more on silent and be more present when I'm home alone ... This has been far harder than I thought it would be.  I like being connected ...  

This week my mom shared Look Up with me on Facebook.  It's a poem talking about the issues surrounding smart phone use.  Thought provoking.


Here are the words of Look Up for those of you who can't access the YouTube clip.

Look Up

Gary Turk

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 into a screen

I took a step back and opened my eyes

I looked around and realised

There's media we call social is anything but

When we open up our computers and it's our doors we shut

All this technology we have it's just an illusion

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 technology we mastered

Where information gets sold by some rich greedy b******

A world of self interest  self image self promotion

Where we all share our best bits but leave out the emotion

We're at our most happy when each experience we share

But is it the same if no one is there ?

Be there for your friends and they'll be there too

But no one will be if a group message will do

We edit and exaggerate crave adulation 

We pretend not to notice the social isolation

We put our words into order

Until our lives are glistening

We don't even know if someone is listening

Being alone isn't the problem

Let me just emphasize

We read a book, paint a picture or do some exercise

You're being productive and present

Not reserved and recluse

You'll be 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 step away from the phone

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

Just talk to one another learn to co exist

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

where no one wants to talk for the fear of looking insane

We're becoming unsocial

it no longer satisfies

to engage with one another and look into someones eyes

We're surrounded by children who since they were born

Have watched us living like robots and think it's the norm.

It's not very likely that you'll make the world's greatest Dad i

f you can't entertain a child without using an iPad.

When I was a child I'd never be home

I'd be out with my friends

on our bikes we would roam

I'd wear holes in my trainers and graze up my knees

We'd build our own club house high up in the trees

Now the park is so quiet that it gives me a chill

See no children outside

And the swings hanging still

There's no skipping, no hop scotch

No church and no steeple

We're a generation of idiots smart phones and dumb people

So look up from your phone

Shut down the display

Take in your surroundings

make the most of today

Just one real connection is all it can take

to show you the difference that being there can make

Be there in the moment

that she gives you the look

that you remember forever

that's when love overtook

the time she first held your hand or first kissed your lips

the time you first disagreed but still loved her to bits

the time you don't have to tell hundreds

of what you've just done

because you want to share this moment with just this one

The time you sell your computer

so you can buy a ring

for the girl of your dreams who is now the real thing

The time you want to start a family

and the moment when

you first hold your little girl

and get to fall in love again

The time she keeps you up at night

and all you want is rest

The time you wipe away the tears

as your baby flees the nest

The time your baby girl returns

with her boy for you to hold

The time he calls you grandad

and makes you feel real old

The time you take in all you've made

just by giving life attention

And how you're glad

you didn't waste it

by looking down in some invention

The time you hold your wife's hand

sit down beside her bed

You tell her that you love her

lay a kiss upon her head.

She then whispers to you quietly

as her heart gives a final beat

That's she's lucky that she got stopped

by that lost boy in the street

But none of these times ever happened

You never had any of this

when you're to busy looking down

You don't see the chances you miss

So look up from your phone

Shut down those displays

We have a finite existence

A set number of days

Don't waste your life getting caught in the net

As when the end comes

Nothings worse than regret 

I'm guilty too of being part of this machine.

This digital world

We are heard but not seen

Where we type as we talk

And we read as we chat

Where we spend hours together

without making eye contact

So don't give into a life where you follow the hype

Give people your love don't give them you like

Disconnect from the need to be heard and defined 

Go out into the world

Leave distractions behind.

Look up from your phone

Shut down that display

Stop watching this video

Live life the real way 

--ooOoo--

Be encouraged this week friends to enjoy each moment and to connect with your family and each other in meaningful ways.

Blessings
Chareen