Essay About IN-Q

IN-Q is an American songwriter and National Poetry Slam champion from Los Angeles, California. IN-Q describes his poetry as a reflection of his own experiences and lessons. In contrast, Gary Turk is an award-winning poet, storyteller and filmmaker who became known to the world following the success of his poem 'Look Up'. All Together, written by IN-Q and Look Up, written by Gary Turk, are aimed at people who constantly use their phones, specifically teenagers and young adults. 'Look Up', written in 2014, is a lesson taught through a love story to create an emotional response from the reader. The idea of Look Up is to express the impact technology has on social interactions in the present day and encourages readers to reflect on how the use of technology creates distractions and has stopped general conversation in the world. All Together by IN-Q performed at the Life Is Beautiful festival in 2018 with an initiative to bring people together and spark conversations. All Together's idea is to express that when phones are down, people connect and can make a change in the world, which encourages readers to put down their phones and be leaders who can make a change. Both poems use language, sound, and structural techniques to further the points of how technology can lead to physiological issues.

Both All Together by IN-Q and Look Up by Gary Turk employ figurative language to explore the overuse of technology and how it distracts society from what is important in life. IN-Q describes the potential that humans have through a metaphor, "We are the rays emanating from the sun" (11), implying that humans should look up and be the change in the world. Similarly, Turk portrays humans are slowly becoming slaves of technology, "A world where we're slaves to the technology we mastered" (13), utilising irony and alliteration in a condescending tone to spark feelings about the usage of technology in the reader. Furthermore, IN-Q conveys a choice on how people will use their lives and what they will achieve using a rhetorical question, "How will you own today?" (37), persuading the audience to change their mindset. Comparably Turk highlights the antisocial world, "I can't stand to hear the silence of a busy commuter train" (33), utilising imagery in an anxious tone to evoke to the reader how technology and social media have become dependent in life. Both IN-Q and Turk effectively explore the overuse of technology by implementing figurative language in contrasting ways to make their readers contemplate how the reliance on technology is wasting the potential of humans.

Both IN-Q and Turk have implemented sound devices to show how technology has caused mental impacts and distractions on the world's citizens. IN-Q presents the mental struggles people are going through, "I can see myself inside your eyes / We recognise the truth behind the disguise" (15-16), compellingly applying a half-rhyme while using a contemplative tone to depict an emotional response from the reader. Likewise, Turk also imbeds a half-rhyme outlining the inner fear that people have, "I can't stand to hear the silence of a busy commuter train/ When no one wants to talk for the fear of looking insane" (33-24), depicting a realisation to the readers of what technology has done to humans' mental state. Moreover, IN-Q effectively inhabits inclusive language and a rhyme in his poem using a didactic tone, "If you're not inspired by life, you're not paying attention/ Our world is beautiful beyond all comprehension" (1-2), directly aimed at the readers outlining the distractions and the beauty missed due to constantly looking down to devices. Similarly, Turk also uses rhyme to tell the readers to put devices down and go into the world, "Disconnect from the need to be heard and defined/ Go out into the world, leave distractions behind" (85-86), implying to the readers that they should go out into the world and see the beauty in it. IN-Q and Turk have both affectively employed rhyme and half-rhyme to express the harsh realities of technology, provoking an effective response to the reader of how technology causes distractions and leaves humans with mental struggles.

IN-Q and Turk both utilise structure to express how putting devices away can bring joy and companionship and how using devices can cause loneliness. IN-Q uses inclusive language and repetition, "We have to celebrate the joy and celebrate the pain" (18), meaning humans develop both joy and pain and must face whatever life throws at them. Turk uses enjambment to express his thoughts on how using devices keeps people apart, "I looked round and realised/ This media we call social is anything but/ when we open our computers and it's our doors we shut" (6-8), this implies to the reader that when people use technology, they are isolating themselves from those around them, which may result in loneliness. In addition, IN-Q uses further repetit