Being able to access the Internet from your phone can be a useful tool. Getting needed information quickly helps you make sound decisions. It can help you if you are lost. It can lead you in the right direction.
For all this usefulness, being able to pick up your smartphone (I prefer the iPhone but the inferior BlackBerry will also do) has ended a once enjoyable activity.
Mobile Google has brought an end to the bar room debate.
For centuries people would discuss unimportant but interesting issues for hours over beer. Sides would be taken and an interesting discussion would ensue. Often the truth would not be found until sometime later, which would set off another interesting but non-critical debate.
This used to be the best part of getting together for beer.
Alas, it's gone. Invariably, someone will pick up their phone and Google the issue. What used to fill an evening is now answered instantly. The entertainment is gone.
I know that having instant access to a huge body of knowledge can enhance our lives, it can help in many ways, but anything with this much ability to make change, will invariably have unintended consequences. I'm not saying that the loss of the bar room debate is the first sign of the end of civilization but it is a change and it is some thing that I miss.
Showing posts with label Information. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Information. Show all posts
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Monday, June 6, 2011
Information Fiend
It seems I lust after information. I try to get as much as I can as often as I can. I know I will never have all the info but I always seem to want more. My latest info source, my new syringe if you will is Twitter. @BACook76 if you want to follow me. I know that's shameless but I do have a BComm in Marketing so it's really to be expected.
Twitter is like crack cocaine. It's instant and addictive. You get info right away. You know before the story is published. It may not be very good for you.
I don't really know where this burring desire to constantly ingest information has come from. It may be from my desire to make good decisions. It could be my hope to appear intelligent, some day the world may prove otherwise but for now I can keep up the charade.
In 2011 the Internet is THE information source but it's coming at you many different ways. We have blogs, tweets, and status updates. History is being captured and written in a digital medium and I want to absorb a lot. Traditional news stories may be more in-depth but they are slow. They often must go through the editor and be approved. It's the complete story but it's not up to the second. I seem to need both. I may not want to be the one who yells it from the mountaintop but I want to know.
If I don't have reliable Internet, I feel a bit lost. How do I get my injection of hot news? How do I know up to the second, what's going down? This has become an issue for me.
It may sound a bit extreme but I want to know. Today I don't know if this craving is a good thing.
Twitter is like crack cocaine. It's instant and addictive. You get info right away. You know before the story is published. It may not be very good for you.
I don't really know where this burring desire to constantly ingest information has come from. It may be from my desire to make good decisions. It could be my hope to appear intelligent, some day the world may prove otherwise but for now I can keep up the charade.
In 2011 the Internet is THE information source but it's coming at you many different ways. We have blogs, tweets, and status updates. History is being captured and written in a digital medium and I want to absorb a lot. Traditional news stories may be more in-depth but they are slow. They often must go through the editor and be approved. It's the complete story but it's not up to the second. I seem to need both. I may not want to be the one who yells it from the mountaintop but I want to know.
If I don't have reliable Internet, I feel a bit lost. How do I get my injection of hot news? How do I know up to the second, what's going down? This has become an issue for me.
It may sound a bit extreme but I want to know. Today I don't know if this craving is a good thing.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
North American TV Dependance
I'm in the place I live for the summer. I have been here for just over a week. This whole tine my TV has not worked. At first I was not too concerned. I am very busy in the summer and don't watch a lot of TV in the summer. As time goes on I am finding that I am missing a lot not having a signal.
I don't need to know what is happening in any of the programs I do enjoy, however much of the news type content is missing. You would think that the Internet would just fill in all what is missing. To a point it does but it is still very much a pull system. You go and find the content you want. There are a lot of benefits to this. There is also one large drawback. It's hard to know what to go and find out about when you don't know what is going on. To add to this there are no radio stations with a reliable signal that I enjoy. As a result I am not listening to morning radio.
I feel as though my knowledge of the world beyond my direct physical contact is severely limited.
I may be a bit addicted to TV. I don't mind the old way of having content pushed on me. I am missing it a bit. There is something to be said for sitting down and watching a half-hour of news. I hope I can return to that very soon.
I don't need to know what is happening in any of the programs I do enjoy, however much of the news type content is missing. You would think that the Internet would just fill in all what is missing. To a point it does but it is still very much a pull system. You go and find the content you want. There are a lot of benefits to this. There is also one large drawback. It's hard to know what to go and find out about when you don't know what is going on. To add to this there are no radio stations with a reliable signal that I enjoy. As a result I am not listening to morning radio.
I feel as though my knowledge of the world beyond my direct physical contact is severely limited.
I may be a bit addicted to TV. I don't mind the old way of having content pushed on me. I am missing it a bit. There is something to be said for sitting down and watching a half-hour of news. I hope I can return to that very soon.
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