In the years since the invention of the internet by Al Gore I've noticed that my book reading has dropped off dramatically. Early on when newspapers were starting to worry that the web may cut into their business profits I laughed. Surely no one in their right mind would choose reading off a television screen over a newspaper. That turned out to be flat wrong. I can't remember the last time I paid money for a newspaper. Why should I, when there's a world of news literally at my fingertips, and mostly for free? There's conservative news, liberal news, middle of the road news, sports, entertainment, lifestyle, fashion, music...click a link and you're instantly bombarded by an ever increasing number of links, each one taking you farther and farther from your original point of interest until eventually you can't remember what you signed on for. And if you're not careful you will come to your senses at 4 in the morning, bleary eyed and stiff but with your mind racing so fast from information overload that there really is no point in going to bed. So you make a pot of coffee and go back to checking Lady Gaga's album sale numbers or examining the mating rituals of the red billed oxpecker. (That's a real bird...you can google it.)
So yes, the internet is a colossal time waster unless you have the clarity of purpose and self control of a Buddhist monk. And show me a guy who has that kind of self control and I'll show you, well, a Buddhist monk. Example...a few days ago I went online with the sole purpose of finishing some work that would eventually result in a paycheck which would allow me to purchase things I like, such as food and electricity. The screen hadn't even come on good when I veered off course to check my email. There were a few work related messages which I ignored, instead opening the latest from a friend of mine. This one was all about an upcoming band gig he was playing with a guy who played a cajon. Having no idea what a cajon was I googled it and discovered it is a wood box used as a percussive instrument which originated in the Andes Mountains of Peru, I believe. Curiosity aroused, I YouTube'd it and spent the next half hour listening to various cajon drummers showing off their skills. In my friend's email he had mentioned that he would be playing an acoustic bass. That reminded me of once hearing a young beatnik poet reciting some sort of nonsense that he and the audience thought was profound but I couldn't make heads or tails of. The accompaniment was an upright bass and a drummer. I YouTube'd it and found a weeks worth of videos, one of which led to a clip of Mike Myers in the movie So I Married An Axe Murderer where he played beat poet Charlie McKenzie who believes he's married to, yes...an axe murderer. That led to the scene where Myers played his drunken kilt wearing Scottish father singing If You Want My Body, with a guy playing bagpipes. Another link related to bagpipes led me to a clip of Sean Connery. That in turn took me to the 2006 AFI Awards where Connery was awarded a lifetime achievement award by Harrison Ford. From there, having relatively little interest in Harrison Ford I chose a video of Mike Myers giving a speech about Connery at the AFI show. He was wearing a kilt. And he referred in a roundabout way to his axe murderer movie where he played Charlie McKenzie, beat poet. I don't think I got any work done that day.
So my point is, while the web is a wonderful source of information, and yes, you can find anything on the internet, if you can't focus you'll never accomplish anything productive. There's just too much information, and it's all available instantly. Where once we'd actually get up to go to the library or the bookstore where we would be forced into at least a little human interaction, we now sit in front of a lit electronic screen like drugged zombies, frantically googling trivial subjects until our eyes are numb. That can't be a good thing.
I've got a stack of books on my shelf I've been meaning to get around to reading. I think I'll start just as soon as I've finished downloading those pictures of the red billed oxpecker.
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