THE ANSWERS OF AN INFORMATION AGE:

A short creative piece extracted from my journal, looking at what it means to find answers when they're so easily and readily available

THE ANSWERS OF AN INFORMATION AGE:

 

In an age where information is everything, where the tiniest, extraneous fragment of knowledge can be attained at a single click, we often neglect to appreciate the most important piece of information that cannot be found on a search engine or database. Far too often we abscond reality believing that everything we’d ever need to know or find can be seen of experienced without the necessity of moving an inch. Our ignorance only leads to a perpetual quest where nothing we learn ever feels like it sticks. There’s something about the experience of face-to-face conversation and tactile interactions that helps tattoo the knowledge we attain. We forget that the experience of looking for answers leads to a better understanding of them once we finally get there. When you go to a library and you put that first stack of books on the table, you know that somewhere along the line, you’ll find yourself with more answers to questions you never thought you had and that in itself is a reason to slow down, to live for the experience of patience. Googling an answer is often like turning to the back of your math textbook in high school. The answer is useless without the explanation of how you got there and without any workings, not even you can distinguish where or how you arrived at your conclusion, only that somehow there is one. So what do we do? Stop using the Internet? Absolutely not. Refrain from using search engine answers? No, but maybe we can remember a time when information was precious and those who patiently sought answers were all the better for it. Let us all try once again, to find pleasure in challenge of the journey.  

 

Louis Shaw

Reviews

[Madeline]

Love this. You show such maturity in thought, I really enjoyed it. I love this subject, it's close to my heart. I love knowledge, and often find myself researching for curiosity's sake! I like the way you articulated the joy of "finding yourself with more answers to questions you never thought you had..." It's a joy to have that kind of yearning for knowledge, and is a journey in itself. I know that you have a lot of fun in life, anyone who advocates this position usually does because they know how to live slowly in such a quick world. So great job, love it!

[Louis J. Shaw]

Thank you so much for the great review, I'm really glad you appreciated the message of the piece. I think we all on occasion, struggle with the temptation to give in to convenience, but it’s always the journey that gives validity to the answers we seek. I love your sentence, “knowing how to live slowly in such a quick world” – really nice and certainly words to live by. Thanks again!

[dopey]

Chilling. This piece made me a little sad, but I liked the energy of it. Very relatable