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A Rap by Prince Ea about our digital obsessions

Vocabulary. Read and check you understand this before you read and listen to the article:

ain’t it: informal form of ‘isn’t it’ or ‘hasn’t it’

selfish: egotistic, self-absorbed, insensitive

‘cause: contraction of ‘because’ (informal)

bugging: to upset – to make someone unhappy or worried

omg: abbreviation of “oh my god”

srs: abbreviation of “serious”

a snap: a quick picture or photo (also: a short period of time)

smh: “shake my head”, to disapprove of something

ADD: Attention Deficit Disorder

LTE: a high speed wireless network for mobile phones (4G), an abbreviation of Long Term Evolution

spoil: to ruin, to stop a person enjoying something

insanity: mental instability, craziness, lunacy

 

Read this rap and listen to the audio or watch the video

Video: http://youtu.be/dRl8EIhrQjQ

Audio: https://princeea.bandcamp.com/track/can-we-auto-correct-humanity

 

Did you know the average person spends 4 years of his life looking down at his cell phone?

Kind of ironic, ain’t it?

How these touch-screens can make us lose touch

But it’s no wonder in a world filled with iMac’s, iPads and iPhones

So many “i”’s, so many selfies, not enough “us”‘s and “we”’s

See, technology

Has made us more selfish and separate than ever

‘Cause while it claims to connect us, connection has gotten no better

And let me express first

Mr. Zuckerberg, not to be rude but you should re-classify Facebook to what it is:

An anti-social network

‘Cause while we may have big friend lists

So many of us are friendless

All alone

‘Cause friendships are more broken than the screens on our very phones

We sit at home on our computers measuring self-worth by numbers of followers and likes

Ignoring those who actually love us

It seems we’d rather write

An angry post than talk to someone who might actually hug us

Am I bugging? You tell me

‘Cause I asked a friend the other day, “Let’s meet up face to face.”

And said, “Alright. What time you wanna Skype?”

I responded with omg, srs, and then a bunch of smh‘s

And realised what about me?

Do I not have the patience to have conversation without abbreviation?

This is the generation of media over stimulation

Chats have been reduced to snaps

The news is 140 characters

Videos are 6 seconds at high speed

And you wonder why ADD is on the rise faster than 4G LTE

But, get a load of this

Studies show the attention span of the average adult today

Is one second lower than that of a gold fish

So if, you’re one of the few people or aquatic animals that have yet to click off or close this video, congratulations

Let me finish by saying you do have a choice, yes

But this one my friends we cannot Auto-Correct – we must do it ourselves

Take control or be controlled, make a decision

Me?

No longer do I want to spoil a precious moment by recording it with a phone

I’m just gonna keep them

I don’t wanna take a picture of all my meals anymore – I ‘m just gonna eat them

I don’t want the new app, the new software, or the new update

And If I wanna post an old photo, who says I have to wait until Thursday

I’m so tired of performing in the pageantry of vanity

And conforming to this accepted form of digital insanity

Call me crazy but, I imagine a world where we smile when we have low batteries

‘Cause that will mean we’ll be one bar closer – to humanity.

 

Something to chat (and write) about

• What is Prince Ea’s message in the rap?
• Do you agree with him?
• Do you Facebook? Why/Why not?
• Do you tweet regularly or instagram?
• Have you ever photographed your lunch?
• What do you use WhatsApp for?
• How much time do you spend online per day?
• Have you made any real friends online?
• Would you go on a date with someone you ‘met’ online?
• Does humanity need to ‘auto-correct’?
• Can you remember life before the smartphone?
• Do you ever disconnect? Do you want to?