Changing Times (part 2)
December 2020 Editorial
www.ink2quill.com

The talk about the direction of all things internet, things concerning accessibility and the various types of ways that accessibility can be controlled and limited, really is a topic worthy of much discussion. But is accessibility the only thing to think about? What other things have we not thought of but should?

My first thought on the internet is whether phones and tablets get too much of our attention during the day? I see mothers giving their children their phones to watch cartoons when waiting in line, people crossing streets with their eyes glued to their phones and even people in conversations who can´t seem to tear their eyes away from their phones, and the list goes on. These people aren´t watching entire movies or TV programs, for the most part. Many of those people are watching clips, short videos or twittering , Pintering or tik-toking.

I am starting to think that this new, wonderful technology is assaulting our concentration spans. We now expect everything right away, without wait. Yes. We are all less patient to waiting for anything and we trust information sources that have never been thoroughly vetted. So many information sources online are in fact just opinion pieces, whether they are videos, or written articles. We don´t seem to recognize the difference between the two.

For example, someone reading, or seeing a video, about a financial stimulus ending at a specific time can quickly deduce that the economy will collapse. They can offer proof that looks convincing and reasoning that sounds cogent. They can accumulate followers and subscribers that seem to give them a kind of credibility. But are they offering people information to make important life desicions on? I think that in most cases they do not.

A real journalist however will take that fact and investigate the story surrounding the end of that stimulus and get a completely different picture of what the economic landscape could look like. They will interview the industry leaders, politicians, residents and whoever else is relevant to the story and inform us what is going on with our govenment.

Both people will give a totally different picture of things to come. One will present verified facts and agreed upon possible outcomes while the other will not. One of those two people is a journalist while the other will most likely just give us some fear porn. And don´t underestimate the influence of fear porn either. It can influence markets and people to make all kinds of bad decisions. It might even goad the stupid to treating others in their community badly.

I think in these changing times we must be careful not to confuse entertainment with news. The two are not the same thing.

John

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