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I Read the News Today, Oh Boy...
From Utne Reader, May/June 2005
By Richard Mahler
During my thirties, as an on-the-go reporter in Los Angeles,
I thought nothing of mentally digesting three newspapers over
breakfast, while half-listening to National Public Radio's
Morning Edition and reviewing my to-do list for the day. I'd
watch TV newscasts while I was dressing, then switch between
all-news stations as I drove to work. By the end of the morning,
I'd plowed through thousands of words. All this input was enough
to make my head swim and my eyes bleary-and often it did.
Mine was an extreme case of factoid oppression, which back
then was confined mainly to people whose jobs demanded lots
of media consumption. But these days the burden of too much
news falls on almost everyone. It's difficult to walk through
any public space without being exposed to some form of information
input. Headlines and graphic images blare at us in checkout
lines, at the airport, at health clubs, and on the electronic
marquees of buildings. All day long at our computers, the
world of mayhem and disaster is just a click away.
And all too often the Internet ups the ante even further.
We turn to it thinking we're getting access to more information
that will help us understand the world better, but instead
we can wind up swamped with still more indigestible material.
"The pull and power of technology cannot be underestimated," says
David Shenk, author of Data Smog.
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