Snow is bad. Ice is worse (I just cancelled school… again).
That’s the bad news.
The good news is we’ve known this pre-apocalyptic storm has been coming for about a week (if you are reading this someplace warm… please know the rest of us hate you).
That’s more bad news.
One would think receiving updated updates on the weather every 4 seconds would be a good thing. It’s not.
Society is on overload.
We have so much information at our fingertips it’s consuming our every thought.
Ten years ago, the only weather information came from the local news station.
You watched it at 6 pm, then you had to wait until 10 o’clock to get the next update.
There was time to let things soak in.
Now, the interweb has allowed us to update ourselves.
And we do. Every few seconds (hello, Twitter).
But this also allows us to blow regular everyday happenings completely out of proportion.
As we share information, too often over exaggeration and hyperbole take the place of common sense.
One person says they’ve heard there is 3 inches of snow on the way, and the next says it’s 4-6.
Before you know it everyone has heard 27 inches and there is only one conclusion to make.
We are all going to DIE!
After a bazillion years (approximately), life as we know it will cease to exist.
You would think the more information we receive would allow us to make more informed decisions.
I think the opposite is happening.
FOX News isn’t making us smarter politically.
MSNBC isn’t helping us elect better representatives.
The local news isn’t calming our fears about crimes and accidents.
Websites are available 24 hours a day. Some even tell us the truth.
It’s so much that it’s becoming just noise.
It’s almost like the more we know, the dumber we get.
Lots and lots of information. But so much noise.
I need to know it’s going to snow.
But I also need to know society is going to survive once it stops.
Phil Gaton"
Jay
on Feb 1st, 2011
@ 4:20 pm:
Yes, my friend. And here’s something else to bake your noodle. After 100+ years of the psychiatric and psychological disciplines, are we or our students getting better?
Michael Smith Reply:
February 4th, 2011 at 10:18 am
@Jay, Good question.
I wonder if anyone has the answer.
Marc
on Feb 1st, 2011
@ 6:27 pm:
I couldn’t agree more. Decisions about canceling school, or keeping school open, is that much harder because the news stations have the worst snow ever coming, every snow storm. Parents (and teachers) check out mentally before I even have a chance to call a snow day.
Raquel
on Feb 2nd, 2011
@ 6:51 am:
DId you watch the special on CNBN last night? At least I think that was the station that played
“Crackberry’d” It was about humans addiction to receive info nonstop, even unimportant info. And how it could be making us dumber. It was very insightful.
Brendhan
on Feb 2nd, 2011
@ 6:43 pm:
Savvy analysis… Thank you for saying what you did.
Btw when I was a kid, we’d walk through the snowbank both way to get to school.
Michael Smith Reply:
February 4th, 2011 at 10:18 am
@Brendhan, We were kids during the same era!!!
Of course, you probably had shoes. I wasn’t that rich.