#LookUp

May 05, 2014

I was recently blown away by a viral video, that many before me had described as leaving them speechless. I hadn't seen it at that point,and at 12:35pm on a Monday afternoon I sat down at my desk with a cup of tea and some strawberry yogurt, logged onto Facebook and found this video.

 #LookUp

And it dawned on my just how true this is. We are obsessed by social media and these virtual worlds we've created. I actually wrote an article about this not so long ago, and explained how people are becoming like robots, programmed to scroll through countless pages of crap.

We are all guilty. Of  course we are. Without technology none of us would be here, reading this blog, or myself writing this blog. And that's why its hard, I am writing this post about technology and social media destroying lives, and yet I am having to use them in order to get this message across.

I love paper and I love pen, and there is something magical about a new book, with pages, actual pages that you can feel and touch. And that one book you always favour because the pages smell sweet. I love doodling, and scribbling and taking note of things I need to remember or do, and then having to find a new pen because your old one got use through. But now all we see is the paper has now turned to screens and the pens are nothing but our fingers- scrolling, searching. Searching for what? What could we possibly find online that we couldn't in the natural world. Answers you may think, but what good is an answer if you can't experience it?

I wish we could just write and tell the world, like history before us. People would tell stories and pass them on, they would sing their stories or tell them poetically and beautifully. Now if you want to be heard it seems as though the only thing that will get you heard is the Internet. It's because everyone IS obsessed and we know that the only way we will get anyone's attention is here...because that's where you will find everyone. Not outside at the park, or running by the sea, or buying ice creams with their families and then sitting in pub gardens sipping an ice cold coke. No we are, you are, all here.

We feel as though we have to tell the world what we do, how we feel and when we do things. But what actual good is it? Does anyone care, or are we just trying to justify our own life and justify it to ourselves that we HAVE a life.

This video has such a strong message. One that I 100% agree with. I am a blogger and so I use the Internet. But it's so sad to think that if I were to blog on paper.... no one would read it!

Think about your actions. Years later you will regret instagraming the whole of your holiday, because whilst you were glued to your phone, you actually missed the holiday.

Look up from your screen and talk to one another, see things with your eyes and feel them with your hands. Sculpt your world from the world around you and enjoy it. Don't become a robot.

I challenge you to go a week without using social media.  No statuses, no tweets, no scrolling, no snapping. Nothing. Put your phone away, laptop away and go and see the world and experience it. You won't regret it! If the memory is good enough, you won't need to pull your phone out to take a photo, because you'll remember it always in your head.

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