Look Up | Gary Turk (Official Video)

A spoken word film for an online generation.
'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.

***Look Up 2 - Coming September 2024!!! // Subscribe to be notified when it's released!***

Follow @gary_turk on Instagram for more.

I don't want you to stop using social media or smartphones. I use them too! It's just about finding a balance. It's about making sure you are awake, alive and living life in the moment; instead of living your life through a screen.

Written, Performed & Directed by Gary Turk.

Original Music Composed by Daniel C. Cobb.

Copyright © 2014 Gary Turk
All Rights Reserved

[GaryTurk]

***Look Up 2 - Coming September 2024!!! // Subscribe to be notified when it's released!***

'Look Up 2: Ten Years Later' - Will look at what has changed over the last ten years since the first video went viral, and what new lessons can be learnt in a world where smartphones and social media are now an unavoidably big part of our daily lives.

There will be a whole new poem, new story, and a new surprise ending...

[yesboi]

No one :
Absolutely no one:
Every Teacher in existence: Hmm yes this would make for a good assignment

[Val-nufu]

Shoutout to all those teachers who brought me here

[NinjekEX]

Two years after watching this video, I still came back to watch it

[GaryTurk]

Many of you have been asking me for the words to 'Look Up', so here they are! Feel free to share. Gary.

Look Up.

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 on a screen.

I took a step back, and opened my eyes,
I looked around, and then 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,
of 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 the technology we mastered,
where our information gets sold by some rich greedy bastard.
A world of self-interest, self-image, self-promotion,
where we share all our best bits, but leave out the emotion.

We are at our most happy with an experience we share,
but is it the same if no one is there.
Be there for you friends, and they’ll be there too,
but no one will be, if a group message will do.

We edit and exaggerate, we crave adulation,
we pretend we don’t 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,
that if you read a book, paint a picture, or do some exercise,
you are being productive, and present, not reserved or 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, and step away from the phone.
You don’t need to stare at your menu, or at your contact list,
just talk to one another, and learn to co-exist.

I can’t stand to hear the silence, of a busy commuter train,
when no one wants to talk through 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,
watch us living like robots, and think it’s the norm.
It’s not very likely you will make world’s greatest dad,
if you cant entertain a child without a using an iPad.

When I was a child, I would never be home,
I’d be out with my friends, on our bikes we would roam.
We’d ware holes in our trainers, and graze up our knees;
we’d build our own clubhouse, high up in the trees.

Now the parks are so quiet, it gives me a chill
to see no children outside and the swings hanging still.
There’s no skipping or hopscotch, no church and no steeple,
we’re a generation of idiots, smart phones and dumb people.

So look up from your phone, shut down that display,
take in your surroundings, and 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, when she gives you the look,
that you remember forever, as when love overtook.
The time you first hold her hand, or first kiss her lips,
the time you first disagree, but still love her to bits.

The time you don’t need to tell hundreds, about what you’ve just done,
because you want to share the 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 baby girl, and get to fall in love again.
The time she keeps you up at night, and all you want is rest,
and the time you wipe away the tears, as your baby flees the nest.

The time your little girl returns, with a boy for you to hold,
and the day 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 your glad you didn’t waste it, by looking down at some invention.

The time you hold your wife’s hand, and sit down beside her bed
you tell her that you love her, and lay a kiss upon her head.
She then whispers to you quietly, as her heart gives a final beat,
that she’s lucky 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.
Why waste all our time getting caught in the net,
as when the end comes, nothing’s worse than regret.

I am guilty too, of being part of this machine,
this digital world, where we are heard but not seen.
Where we type and don’t talk, where we read as we chat,
where we spend hours together, without making eye contact.

Don’t give in to 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.

#poetry   #spokenword #lyrics   #lookup  

[namedmatt]

No I lost it at “she’s lucky she got stopped by that lost boy in the street” 😭😭

[Yoshirocks]

I remember watching this video back in 2014.


I come back 5 years later, just to say it's still accurate.

[Arismortal]

9 years later, this video is more relevant than ever before. I love it! Thanks for reminding us about what's real and truly important, Gary!

[jacqui]

One of the things that struck me most in this vid: *"We're surrounded by children, who since they were born, who 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."*

This quote is so, *so* important I can't even emphasize. Because we're missing out on the chance to connect with our children, the chance to show them how to connect to other people in society. It's very important if we want the future generations to know how to love and care for and pay attention to one another. It's important that they don't hide in their phones, but that they make strong connections with others, so they don't feel loneliness or seclusion. This is what I want for *my* kids.

So, in service, I'll now be doing much more to help spread love, care, laughter, attention and good things to children. I'll be doing the best I can to love them and play with them and also teach them how to interact with others and even make others laugh. I definitely won't stare at my screen when my nephew, Cole, wants my attention anymore, because I don't want him to act that way when he's a grown-up and has his own kids. It's important that we do this for our children, because they are our legacy and what we're leaving behind. They make up the future world.

I'm Jacqui and I'm just 16. This is my promise for myself and how I'll help the world :)

P.S. I only just discovered this life lesson while watching, so that's something. Thank you Gary for posting !

[Liz-zgmf]

A few days ago I was coming out Walmart with my mother. It was really cold and sleet was falling rapidly. I didn't have my phone the whole day due to leaving it at home on accident. I'm thankful for that.

I was helping my mom out up the items fast because of the falling sleet I was about to go in the car. Then I noticed an elderly woman struggling getting off of her little shopping cart ( for the disabled ) next to us. I watched as she was barley able to stand and walk, and her cane was in the basket of the cart. With that I quickly walked over to her and asked if I could help. Her face quickly lit up with a smile and I grabbed her bags and put them in her car. She was really thankful for what I did but she had to go back to the store to put up her cart. I never drove one of those so I asked in how it worked and I drove it inside. I got looks by everyone but it was worth it.
With this I knew that if I had my phone I wouldn't have ever noticed her and would've been on Instagram or FB

[alextheduck]

I used to have an iPhone that I used way to much
Payed no attention to my friends or family and such

I was to busy with my games till morning till dark
Was to busy when my sister asked if I could go to the park

Laughing at slender man instead of my friends
Don't listen to my date, I had messages to send

I'm watching television, sponge bob and Patrick
When I could be watching my grandmother, who has been ill and sick

This video taught me from when i first watched it all
That I don't need technology to make me happy at all

I should live life to the fullest, take my girlfriend to the zoo
Go to the park, watch a firework show, there's tons of things to do

I typed this on an iPad, but for now, I'll put it away
I bought a new dog, and I have to walk him today

And while I'm outside, I'll drive to my girlfriends in my big white truck

I'm proposing tomorrow, please wish me luck

[nicohufnagel]

The video: Stop watching and go out
My assigment: Watch the video again and take notes

[glossy]

Shoutout to all those English teachers who brought me here

[Tatherwood]

"She then whispers to you quietly,
as her heart gives a final beat,
that she's lucky she got stopped,
by that lost boy in the street".
FUCK.

Everytime I feel like I need to get rid of a lump in my throat I come here. Those lines just make it. Every time.

[HellFirecz]

I am glad that i had a childhood without technology.

[AGentertainmentofficial]

The ironic thing is this anti-technology, anti-social media message wouldn't have been heard without technology and social media.  

[AdorianDeck]

What sucks about this amazing video is that it's going to circle the internet for the next 2 weeks and then it will be forgotten. Videos like this aren't enough to change our ways, we are the only ones who can make the habitual change. So I'll just use this video as a tool to show people why I've become so bad at texting them back.

[MichaelHecker]

This is what I wasn't able to put into words. Thanks. And to everybody listening. Head up look up

[DenD]

i watched this video one day randomly looked up and saw woman of my dreams. Now, we are married with 1 child. i just wanna say thank you....you changed my life.

[jimgeo]

Everyone who's hating on this video just cannot deny the fact how they "need" and constantly use their smartphone everyday, and feel that they always have to have it. For about 2 weeks, AT&T screwed up something on my account, so I couldn't get any service at all. I have AT&T wifi too, so that account was messed up. But you know what? I made the best of it. Not having communication for 2 days was honestly great. It was less stressful on me, and it was better to actually talk to people in person. Lesson here, if you're one of the 8.8K people who thumbs downed this video, then how about you actually try going without you're phone. Its a great experience. I learned that there are tons of wonderful people that I have never even met right around me.