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I have 422 friends, yet I am lonely.
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I speak to all of them everyday, yet none of them really know me.
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The problem I have sits in the spaces between,
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looking into their eyes, or at a name on a screen.
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I took a step back, and opened my eyes,
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I looked around, and then realised
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that this media we call social, is anything but
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when we open our computers, and it's our doors we shut.
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All this technology we have, it's just an illusion,
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of community, companionship, a sense of inclusion
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yet when you step away from this device of delusion,
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you awaken to see, a world of confusion.
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A world where we're slaves to the technology we mastered,
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where our information gets sold by some rich greedy bastard.
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A world of self-interest, self-image, self-promotion,
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where we share all our best bits, but leave out the emotion.
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We are at our most happy with an experience we share,
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but is it the same if no one is there.
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Be there for you friends, and they'll be there too,
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but no one will be, if a group message will do.
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We edit and exaggerate, we crave adulation,
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we pretend we don't notice the social isolation.
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We put our words into order, until our lives are glistening,
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we don't even know if anyone is listening.
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Being alone isn't the problem, let me just emphasize,
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that if you read a book, paint a picture, or do some exercise,
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you are being productive, and present, not reserved or recluse,
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you're being awake and attentive, and putting your time to good use.
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So when you're in public, and you start to feel alone,
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put your hands behind your head, and step away from the phone.
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You don't need to stare at your menu, or at your contact list,
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just talk to one another, and learn to co-exist.
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I can't stand to hear the silence, of a busy commuter train,
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when no one wants to talk through the fear of looking insane.
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We're becoming unsocial, it no longer satisfies
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to engage with one another, and look into someone's eyes.
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We're surrounded by children, who since they were born,
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watch us living like robots, and think it's the norm.
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It's not very likely you will make world's greatest dad,
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if you cant entertain a child without a using an iPad.
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When I was a child, I would never be home,
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I'd be out with my friends, on our bikes we would roam.
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We'd ware holes in our trainers, and graze up our knees;
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we'd build our own clubhouse, high up in the trees.
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Now the parks are so quiet, it gives me a chill
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to see no children outside and the swings hanging still.
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There's no skipping or hopscotch, no church and no steeple,
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we're a generation of idiots, smart phones and dumb people.
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So look up from your phone, shut down that display,
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take in your surroundings, and make the most of today.
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Just one real connection is all it can take,
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to show you the difference that being there can make.
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Be there in the moment, when she gives you the look,
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that you remember forever, as when love overtook.
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The time you first hold her hand, or first kiss her lips,
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the time you first disagree, but still love her to bits.
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The time you don't need to tell hundreds, about what you've just done,
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because you want to share the moment, with just this one.
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The time you sell your computer, so you can buy a ring,
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for the girl of your dreams, who is now the real thing.
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The time you want to start a family, and the moment when,
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you first hold your baby girl, and get to fall in love again.
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The time she keeps you up at night, and all you want is rest,
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and the time you wipe away the tears, as your baby flees the nest.
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The time your little girl returns, with a boy for you to hold,
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and the day he calls you granddad, and makes you feel real old
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The time you take in all you've made, just by giving life attention,
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and how your glad you didn't waste it, by looking down at some invention
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The time you hold your wife's hand, and sit down beside her bed
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you tell her that you love her, and lay a kiss upon her head.
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She then whispers to you quietly, as her heart gives a final beat,
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that she's lucky she got stopped, by that lost boy in the street.
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But none of these times ever happened, you never had any of this,
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When you're too busy looking down, you don't see the chances you miss.
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So look up from your phone, shut down those displays,
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we have a finite existence, a set number of days.
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Why waste all our time getting caught in the net,
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as when the end comes, nothing's worse than regret.
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I am guilty too, of being part of this machine,
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this digital world, where we are heard but not seen.
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Where we type and don't talk, where we read as we chat,
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where we spend hours together, without making eye contact.
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Don't give in to a life where you follow the hype,
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give people your love, don't give them your like.
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Disconnect from the need to be heard and defined
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Go out into the world, leave distractions behind.
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Look up from your phone, shut down that display,
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stop watching this video, live life the real way.