TORONTO – “I have 422 friends, yet I’m lonely. I speak to all of them every day, yet none of them really know me.”
If you feel you can relate to this line, you might want to keep reading.
A spoken word poem lashing out against generation-Y’s reliance on social media and technology has become a viral sensation. The video, called “Look Up – A spoken word poem film for an online generation” by London-based writer Gary Turk, has garnered over 12 million views on YouTube.
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“This media we call social is anything but,” Turk says in the video, where he encourages people to “learn to coexist.”
Turk criticizes the online generation for “living like robots” by constantly relying on devices for human connections. In the video, characters are seen left sitting alone while their friends stare at their phones.
“We’re becoming unsocial; it no longer satisfies to engage with one another and look into someone’s eyes,” he warns.
Ironically, the video has gone viral thanks to the number of users sharing it on social media sites.
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Perhaps we should all take into consideration Turk’s words:
“When you’re in public and you start to feel alone; put your hands on your head, step away from the phone.”
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