“Google can bring you back 100,000 answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.”
― Neil Gaiman
When you type certain keywords on Google search bar, such as “US presidential election” or “Hong Kong democracy crisis”, you can get a slew of the search result. In this connected world, you can access almost any type of information through Google search (or maybe Bing).
On the other hand, Facebook and Instagram let you have a glimpse into your friends’ lives: what they ate for lunch or what they are currently binge-watching on Netflix.
You can enjoy hours of chatting with your best friend on WhatsApp. Maybe amid the coronavirus pandemic, you may have enjoyed video-chatting with your parents or siblings living far away.
In this connected age, it seems like we all have an ability to access any sort of info we’re looking for. But do we really know everything? As I mentioned earlier, while you can search the US presidential election to Asia’s democracy crisis and Brexit, how much do you know about what is happening in your neighborhood? What about your next-door neighbor whom you barely talk to (I’m not telling you to stalk them lol)? What happened to the owner of a restraint in your neighborhood that was closed a year ago?
Don’t you think it’s kind of an irony that while you can search what is going on on the other side of the earth, you have no way knowing what is happening in your neighborhood unless you have personal connections with them?
I’m not saying the Internet is tearing us apart, actually what it does is quite opposite. But since we’re living in the age of the Internet, it looks like we’re also believing in the illusion that we know everything.
When it comes to social media, you can check your friends’ status on Facebook where they post their lunch photos or their family gatherings, but how well do you know about them through those “edited” reality?
What would you think about this? Give me your comment below.
Here are some shots of my PCs and Amazon/Android figures on my desk photographed with my newly bought Pixel 4a.
