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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Life without Justin Bieber

I have survived this far without knowing who Justin Bieber is.  Maybe I am really missing out.  Maybe all the nights that I layed awake thinking that there was a higher power out there or that there was a feeling of emptyness in my life was just the hole left by the future presence of Justin Bieber.  I stumbled upon the fact that his haircut is making the news today.  Wow, he must really be interesting if his haircuts warrant an article about them. 

Or maybe I should live in ignorance and assume that popular culture and the media are once again throwing some untalented kid into the limelight prematurely and not waste my time.  Or he could be the next Michael Jackson.  Thanks to Google, I am about to find out.



Here is what I read so far on wikipedia, my curiosity is increasing:
"The Observer newspaper in the UK published a report indicating that Justin Bieber is more influential in the social networking sphere than Barack Obama or The Dalai Lama."

Random thought, is puberty going to be a problem for him with his voice dropping?

AFTER:
As far as him having talent, it's hard to tell with all the auto tune and production, but he just seems to look like hundreds of kids I see walking around town with that moppy hair. 

I think if I were to go back to my life before Justin Bieber, I would be just fine.  It definitely wasn't his lack of appearance into my reality that was keeping me up at night!  To be really fair, I watched about 2 minutes of youtube videos (Baby w Ludacris and part of another one) before deciding I had enough. 

Oh well, guess I will have to keep searching!  Or give him another chance.  What I would really like to see is something where he is playing an instrument and singing live, so I can really formulate a fair opinion of his abilities...

 

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