Take five minutes to watch this. You will not regret it.

I saw this video ironically while having breakfast with my husband in Paris two weeks ago, and if I am to be honest, it stopped me dead in my tracks. It was a cold, harsh reality check that made me recognize some bad habits I have formed over the past few years. That many of us have formed over the past few years.

Look Up is a spoken film in poetic form created by Gary Turk. ‘Look Up’ is a lesson taught to us through a love story, in a world where we continue to find ways to make it easier for us to connect with one another, but always results in us spending more time alone. Alone looking down at our phones.

Look Up is our reminder to step away from technology.

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 space in-between
Looking into their eyes or at a name on a screen

Being alone isn’t the problem let me just emphasise
If you read a book, paint a picture, or do some exercise
You’re being productive and present not reserved and reclused
You’re being awake and attentive and putting your time to good use

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 you’ll make World’s Greatest Dad
If you can’t entertain a child without using an iPad

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 at your contact list
Just talk to one another, learn to co-exist

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 – Gary Turk

smartphone-addiction-look-up

Heavy.

Here is where the “on the fence” discussion comes into play: We live in a digital world. Many of us have digital careers (myself included). The two worlds of work and play can collide, the lines can get blurry. How do we find the balance between SIMPLIFICATION and DANGER? How do we walk that fine line between technology SIMPLIFYING our lives, and RUINING our lives? Mobile apps are teaching our children how to read and learn math, but when does it become substitution for real-life teaching and parenting? When do our smartphones become a liability instead of an asset?

It’s a slippery slope. How much technology is too much? Where does it end? 

Today I leave the discussion with you. I just know one thing – I must LOOK UP more.

Erica3