Recently, a younger friend remarked in passing, "Where would we be, for information, without the Internet-what did people do for information before?"
With my jaw dropping straight to the ground, it was fortunate that at the time we needed to concentrate on the project at hand. I followed up later, however, with a request to expand on his remarks.
He feels that in this Information Age the world is at your fingertips. If you are curious about a word and wondering where it came from, search on Wikipedia; he gave as an example the word hijack. The two entries he sent along to me told stories about the word's origins and also had links to truck, exclamation, robbers, seamen and prostitutes.
I checked in my well-worn dictionary and found that it stated the origin was unknown and then defined it: "1a-to steal by stopping a vehicle on the highway; 2b-to stop and steal from (a vehicle in transit); 2a-STEAL, ROB; 2b-FORCE, COERCE."
He went on to talk at length about news sources. He felt that before the Internet, news was limited to newspapers, radio and television. Now, an interested person "can indulge in our own sort of journalism, investigating stories and people in far more depth and detail. We can also control the filter through which we get our news."
I was fascinated during our first brief conversation that he, without any hesitation, said that when he gets to work he calls up maybe four or five news sites that he prefers. He does not read newspapers, but he definitely wants to know the daily news. Hmmmmmmm... If we were to work side by side, I wonder how his colleagues and bosses would feel, seeing me sit there and plow through my selected newspapers? Yes, not reading newspapers certainly saves our trees, but personally, could we first cut down on rampant packaging before we stop printing newspapers?
Also, I read the news online, but I have come to miss several things that are found in newspapers such as the difference in typeface and size, along with my eye catching an article that I would not have scanned or read if I had just seen it in a list online.
So, I conclude that his question is a good one: where did people get their information? Certainly not with just a click. Many of us were in awe of our librarians who knew where to look.
Then there was the specialist who was in the family or a friend, or a friend of a friend, or a neighbor. There was always the local wag, at the auto shop/gas station, or at the train station, or at the shoe repair store or the fish monger-they had not only news, but usually added their in-depth point of view on a subject.
My point is that human beings were exchanging information. Yes, the "click" can lead you through some amazing resource; I am not opposed to it one whit.
I just hope that some day my friend will also value the excitement and intrigue to be found in the personal exchange of information.[[In-content Ad]]
