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Response Essay “Look up” by Gary Turk

   

Added on  2021-04-17

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Running head: RESPONSE ESSAY“Look up” by Gary TurkName of the Student:Name of the University:Author Note:

1RESPONSE ESSAY“Technology has made us Gods, even before we deserve to call ourselves human beings.”The above quoted lines of Woody Allen clearly indicate the sway which technologyholds over our lives. The various entities of the world are highly dependent on the moderninnovations like smart phones and internet for their day-to-day activities. It is often seen thatwhen a particular thing is put to great use then its misuse also entails with that. The misuse aswell as the negative impact of the present technology as well as innovations is a case ininstance. The poem “Look up” by Gary Turk, a poet, writer and award winning filmmakerseeks to portray the danger of the too much use of the modern technology particular thevirtual world and their effect on the lives of the users of those innovations (Garyturk.com.2018). This poem tries to demystify the myth of social media’s virtue world with lines like “Ihave four-hundred-and-twenty-two friends, yet I am lonely. I speak to all of them every day,yet none of them really know me”(Turk, G. 2014). The poem gives a poignant narrative ofthe hollowness of the friendships formed over the virtual platforms and how people areactually wasting their lives trying to chase the mirages over the internet in lines like “Whenwe open our computers, and it’s our doors we shut. All this technology we have it’s just anillusion. Community companionship a sense of inclusion yet, when you step away from thisdevice of delusion, you awaken to see a world of confusion”(Turk, G. 2014). Thus, accordingto an article, “You get the point. “Look Up” means put the smart phone down” (Time. 2018).The poem became an instant hit among the present generation and its video has “attractedmore than 500 million views worldwide” (Garyturk.com. 2018). This essay intends to give ananalysis of the poem “Look Up” by Gary Turk and in the process, will also provide anoverview of the over-reliance on the social media platforms.According to an article, the poem depicts “the pitfalls of social networks on a socialnetwork” (Washington Post. 2018). The poem emphasizes the fact that although the varioussocial media platforms have brought us more closer with people from different parts of the

2RESPONSE ESSAYworld but in reality it has made our lives even more fragmentary. He even goes to the extentof saying that there is nothing social about the social media in lines like “I took a step backand opened my eyes, I looked around to realize the media we call social is anything but”(Turk, G. 2014). He clearly outlines the pitfall of the over-dependence on the various socialmedia platforms in lines like “A world where we’re slaves to the technology we mastered,where information gets sold by some rich greedy bastard....but no one will be if a groupmessage will do” (Turk, G. 2014). The tone of the poet suggests that he is wandering on thethin line between the “being and nothingness” of Jean-Paul Sartre. The lines between realityand the virtual world are clearly getting blurred for the poet as he himself confesses in lineslikes “We edit and exaggerate, crave adulation. We pretend not to notice the social isolation.We put our words into order and turn our lives a-glistening. We don’t even know if anyone islistening!” (Turk, G. 2014). Thus, he calls the contemporary society as “a generation ofidiots, smart phones and dumb people” (Turk, G. 2014). The solution which he proposes toovercome this predicament is a complete social media detoxification in lines like “So look upfrom your phone, shut down those displays, we have a final act existence a set number ofdays. Don’t waste your life getting caught in the net, because when the end comes there’snothing worse than regret.....Live life the real way” (Turk, G. 2014). The poet RobertBrowning has articulated the concept of seizing the moment and living in that particularmoment in the poem “The Last Ride Together”,I and my mistress, side by sideShall be together, breathe and ride,So, one day more am I deified.Who knows but the world may end to-night?

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