Growing up in the mean streets of Jane & Sheppard as a child, I never took to reading. However, after moving 12 times and finally getting into junior hight, I found the joy of reading through mystery books. From that first book, I was sparked with the passion and imagination of what’s possible. Through high school and into college that passion was only fueled more in part due to my love of the Internet. It gave me access to newspapers on a global basses.
I’ve found that in the last 12 years, I’ve only increased in my search for knowledge and information online. With each passing year, I find myself not even looking in the Yellow Pages book, which I own two of at home, but using Google and YellowPages.ca to find what I need. It almost seems like part of me, on a subconscious level, is blocking out the idea of searching and researching for information the traditional way. I know there were a few times, it would have been faster in the end to just look it up in a book and not go online, but still I found myself using my Mac. What does this say about our society and the future of research? Will there be a day when we don’t have a YellowPages book anymore?
As newspapers and everything heads online. I’ve becoming more and more of a news junkie. I’ll stay up until 1 or 2am reading online new sources and searching the Internet to my hearts content. The fact that I believe that everything and anything that our imaginations can think up, is online, doesn’t help. I hope I’m not alone with having this trait among PR people.
That’s why today, I’ve taken a course of action. I shall not have more then 200 feeds in my RSS reader, NetNewsWire, and I shall keep those feeds focus on my discipline while at the same time giving me a broader look at the new global society of ours. I’m Duane Brown and I’ve a recovering news junkie.
