Look UP

I have 422 friends, yet I am lonely.

I speak to all of them every day, 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 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

Community, companionship, a sense of inclusion

But 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 information gets sold by some rich greedy bastard

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

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

We're at our most happy with an 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 and tint our lives a-glistening

We don't even know if anyone is listening.

Being alone isn't a problem let me just emphasize

If you read a book, paint a picture, or do some exercise

You're being productive and present, not reserved and 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, step away from the phone

You don't need to stare at the menu, or at 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

When 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 someone's eyes.

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

Have watched us living like robots, who now think it's the norm.

It's not very likely you'll make world's greatest dad,

If you can't entertain a child without using an iPad

When I was a child, I'd never be home

Be out with my friends, on our bikes we'd roam

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

We'd build our own clubhouse, high up in the trees

Now the park's so quiet, it gives me a chill

See no children outside and the swings hanging still.

There's no skipping, no hopscotch, no church and no steeple

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

(Part 1 of 2, source: www.film-english.com)