I'm one. Guilty.
I sometimes get a little consternated as just how much I depend on technology. My first response to the Apolcalyse would most likely be to run and look up some wilderness survival crap online. Until I realized that the internet no longer existed. At which point, I would get hysterical, sit down and cry.
If the internet's down, or the Boy's on my computer for some reason, I get antsy. I'm used to having things pop into my head, and within a half hour, having a basic working knowledge of whatever it was I was curious about, thanks to the information revolution. Case in point: the Boy was fixing/installing/updating something on my computer tonight, and I was huffing and pacing, peering over his shoulder, until I realized that a BOOK I owned probably contained at least a start on what it was I needed to find out about. A BOOK. With paper pages.
While I certainly don't yearn for the days of the card catelogue, I do kind of miss HAVING to go to the library. I still love the library--that certain swishy silence punctuated by the occasional whisper or page turning--magic. Just being surrounded by all those books was somehow a healing experience.
The internet has bred in me the unignorable (?) tendancy to EXPECT to get answers within minutes on whatever it is I'm wondering about. As a result, do I wonder about more things? I think I must, in some ways. I can't imagine the cluttered warehouse my brain would be if I had to actually remember what it was that piqued my interest, wait until I had the time to go to the library, decide which books were most likely to help, and then leaf through thousands of pages that may or may not have what I'm looking for. Chaos! (or as a friend laughingly puts it: "Chouse!") I think I just plain spent much more time Not Knowing in those days---a state of being which I hate.
I think what would bother me the most, were I forced into a dreary dimension where books were the sole means of gathering information, is that I would only be able to draw on the thoughts of people who actually took the time and money to write and have a book published. This was particularly the case tonight, when I was researching a medical condition I was curious about. Besides the official medical info, I wanted opinions from people who had dealt with things, how their doctors responded, and what the best way to prepare for the appointment would be. I adore that this sort of thing that exists in the self-publishing mecca that is the internet.
Look--I have a blog!
1 comment:
I totally agree. I am already impatient by nature, but I think the interweb has made me even more so. I find myself wishing I had a computer in the bathroom (for all the interesting things I find myself wondering about while washing my hair) or in the living room or wherever, because going allllll the way down to the basement is just too much work. a book? faggedaboutit.
but the internet harbors an evil side, especially when reading about medical info. I guess it's more of a double-edged sword. while you can find out way too much and get yourself freaked out, you can also find stuff to school your doctors. I get this weird skin thing and no local doctors could figure it out, and I researched it online (and looked up all kinds of high-ranking dermatologists and emailed them all randomly - and one actually responded) and figured out what I had.
anyways. yeah. internet.
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