A Day Without Google Is Not A Day For Me
I have this feeling that someday we will all be bouncing our grandchildren on our third replacement knees while telling them outrageous tales from back in the day when the internet was a fun-loving free-for-all.
Because I’m concerned that this all might change.
The question is whether this TimesSelect business is the harbinger of the future or a brief blip in the otherwise uninterrupted mayhem of the internets. For those of you who haven’t recently tried to read the latest Paul Krugman & Company on-line, the New York Times is now charging $50 for yearly access to certain portions of its coverage. Including the op-eds, which are the only things I regularly read.
This is scary. Because what if Google starts charging $.05 for every search? Or e-mail postage fees start becoming the new thing? Either I will go broke in a week or I will have to crawl back into the information-less cave from whence I came.
Or perhaps it’s all a big conspiracy. Much as we now blame tobacco companies for encouraging the addiction of future customers, we may soon blame the dastardly comedy of Television Without Pity or the newsworthiness of Salon for making us all internet addicts. There will be terrible TV movies thirty years from now starring Maddox Jolie and PMS which chronicle the woes of a generation going through severe internet withdrawal.
To make matters even worse, I have to confess that I don’t understand AT ALL how the internet works. I really haven’t the foggiest. In fact, I have this recurring nightmare where I get transported back in time as the salvation of previous generations.
“Show us your automobiles, future man,” they will chant. “Create for us the wonders of the iPod.”
Oh, how I would disappoint them. I’m not even sure I could make fire. And NO WAY could I produce a toaster. Or indoor plumbing. Or pretty much ANYTHING that is a marker of the modern world.
So let’s all happily go about our business enjoying the internet while it lasts. Google with abandon, I tell you! Be not ashamed of checking your e-mail 20 times per day! Because someday soon, it may all change.
Because I’m concerned that this all might change.
The question is whether this TimesSelect business is the harbinger of the future or a brief blip in the otherwise uninterrupted mayhem of the internets. For those of you who haven’t recently tried to read the latest Paul Krugman & Company on-line, the New York Times is now charging $50 for yearly access to certain portions of its coverage. Including the op-eds, which are the only things I regularly read.
This is scary. Because what if Google starts charging $.05 for every search? Or e-mail postage fees start becoming the new thing? Either I will go broke in a week or I will have to crawl back into the information-less cave from whence I came.
Or perhaps it’s all a big conspiracy. Much as we now blame tobacco companies for encouraging the addiction of future customers, we may soon blame the dastardly comedy of Television Without Pity or the newsworthiness of Salon for making us all internet addicts. There will be terrible TV movies thirty years from now starring Maddox Jolie and PMS which chronicle the woes of a generation going through severe internet withdrawal.
To make matters even worse, I have to confess that I don’t understand AT ALL how the internet works. I really haven’t the foggiest. In fact, I have this recurring nightmare where I get transported back in time as the salvation of previous generations.
“Show us your automobiles, future man,” they will chant. “Create for us the wonders of the iPod.”
Oh, how I would disappoint them. I’m not even sure I could make fire. And NO WAY could I produce a toaster. Or indoor plumbing. Or pretty much ANYTHING that is a marker of the modern world.
So let’s all happily go about our business enjoying the internet while it lasts. Google with abandon, I tell you! Be not ashamed of checking your e-mail 20 times per day! Because someday soon, it may all change.
posted by OleNelson at 1:00 AM
3 Comments:
technical or life skills be damned! you can still make a vodka gimlet that will surely satisfy all requests by anyone you meet during your time travels.
I would be lost without Google!!
I can't believe I have to pay $50 a year to read my favorite ranter, Maureen Dowd. This sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If they made the price less than $20 I would suck it up and subscribe to the Times online thingy, but jeeeez louise, $50????
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