David Chenu

David Chenu
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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

How we are making ourselves more narrowminded

These days the majority of people read news online.  They do most things online.  The good thing about this is that there is a wealth of information like never before.  We have access to the most obscure and random information.  Apparently, people watch YouTube more than they watch TV now.  Everything is in bite sized amounts so that it is easier to read and handle.  People use Twitter to post little blurbs that are limited to 140 characters.  In a sense, these are all good things.  People listen to music online on sites such as Deezer or use sites such as Hulu to watch shows.  People stream.  The verb "to google" now exists...  And of course I have done or do all of those things myself as well...

Here is the thing though.  Because of all that, newspapers and television and radio are suffering.  Here is my problem with that:  when looking online people end up only clicking on things that interest them.  The Japan earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster getting you down?  Don't worry, you can watch videos of Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber on YouTube instead.  People are therefore closing themselves off to many things because they only look at things that they choose.  They don't listen to entire news broadcasts or read an entire newspaper.  Books?  Ha!  I figure most of you are already bored with this and clicked away to something else by now, if you even clicked here at all. 

Most people don't adventure out into the world of the unknown online.  Never heard of it, never going to click on it.  When you look at a newspaper, you can't help but see other pictures and headlines, even if the subjects don't interest you.  Online however, you are limited to where and how you browse.  If you are interested in one subject, you may look that up and only that, never looking beyond to people with other opinions, ideas or other subjects...  That's bad. 

Happy browsing!



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