18th
R.I.P.
My computer died on Sunday. Yes, I think a moment of silence is in order too.
Aside from the normal questions that arise when one’s computer dies (i.e. Is it still under warranty? When was the last time I backed up? What exactly happens to that stuff I bought on iTunes?), I was met with about a million more. You see, the Internet has made me addicted to information. I expect to have all of my questions answered as quickly as that goddamn “linksys” will allow. So when the computer dies, well, not to be too dramatic, I die a little too.
I was watching “John Adams” (that’s right, the HBO miniseries event) and I was, literally, experiencing information withdrawal. My hand would reflexively reach towards the dead computer to ask, how old is Laura Linney? How many episodes will there be? Is John Adams’ daughter going to die? Exactly how tall was George Washington? Ben Franklin is awesome. Ok, that last one isn’t a question, but I had wanted to Google him and find out other reasons why he was awesome, but alas, I couldn’t. I just had to sit and watch that mind-numbingly boring program.
I don’t think I can focus on just one thing anymore. All the pre-Internet Baby Boomers like to theorize about this Internet addiction from which my generation suffers, but they miss the point. They say that our attention spans are shot, but the truth is that we are brimming with attention. We are constantly paying attention. Just not to one thing. At any given moment I can be emailing someone, IMing someone, Facebooking someone, reading a book, reading the SparkNotes for a different book, reading the news, finding out how to fold a fitted sheet, watching a TV episode, listening to a course lecture, and blogging about the whole experience.
That’s not a lack of attention. That’s an excess of attention. I am deeply interested in everything. Just, you know, not interested enough not to keep my eye out for something better.
And Laura Linney is 44. Viva l’information!
