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 realized
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 ba*tards
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 anyone 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 menu
or your contact list
just talk to one another
learn to coexist!!! 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 someone's 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
if 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 granddad
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 too 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
nothing's 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 your 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!!!