Sending an extremely important message to the internet generation, Gary Turk’s spoken word film “Look Up” urges people in the twenty-first century to stop staring at their iPads and smartphones and opt for real, human interaction instead.

Written, performed, directed, filmed, and edited by Turk, the short video ironically went viral, now boasting over 12 million views since it was posted to YouTube on April 25, 2014. The video has received mixed reviews, largely positive. The negative reactions hinge on the irony of a video that warns of Internet overuse getting Turk a little taste of online fame.

Turk did pay homage to this irony with a line in the video where he admits, “I’m guilty too of being part of this machine, this digital world where we are heard but not seen.” That being said, Turk’s verse condemning “smartphones and dumb people” uses a love story that never happened (thanks to technology) to let us know what humans today are missing as their social interactions increasingly take place in a virtual space.

Jessica Klein

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