“Look Up”- A spoken word film for an online generation

By Yasmeen Banu

Everyone has at least heard of Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, or Pinterest. For some of us, our life revolves around it. We know what our friends are up to, not because we called them, but because we checked their social sites. We check for updates on people’s blogs or twitter, because it’s simply addictive. We think we understand someone, not because we’ve sat across them countless times for dinner and spent days with them but because we’ve read their posts, seen their photos and “know” their other friends.

For some of us, our attention span when reading novels or long articles is lesser than 20 minutes, but our attention span when scrolling through Instagram or Facebook never wavered. We can’t stand long insightful conversations anymore, because it’s hard to think on our feet. We’re comfortable hiding behind text messages and WhatsApp because we can buy time to think about our responses.

“Look Up” is a spoken word film for an online generation, asking us to reflect on our obsession with relying on our smart phones and gadgets, and to take the time to interact with one another.

This video “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”.

At the end of the day, know that it is okay to ask for directions, it is okay to speak to a stranger, or greet them, it is okay to leave your phone aside when having dinner, and it is okay to look up and not be glued to our HD lit-up screens. Maybe we’ll see much more than what’s limited to a world trapped within four corners.

“We don’t even know if anyone is listening,
being alone isn’t a problem
let me just emphasise
read a book, paint a picture,
or do some exercise
you’re being productive and present,
not reserved and recluse” 

Don’t switch tabs, watch the video: