One of the interesting things to me is what we do when a commodity switches from scarcity to abundance.
In particular, when I was a kid a big problem for me was information scarcity. I remember reading the cereal box over and over because it was the only thing to read at breakfast. I read everything in the newspaper because that's what I had. Library trips were a big deal.
Now, though, I have an elaborate series of tricks for managing information abundance. Inbox zero. Browser tab zero. Instapaper, Pinboard, Amazon wishlist, Netflix queue. And Leechblock, beloved Leechblock. I have two laptops, work and fun, and the main difference is that on the work one I can't access certain sorts of information.
What will be especially interesting to me is to see how kids who are growing up now end up handling this stuff. I expect they'll be much better than me at this.
In particular, when I was a kid a big problem for me was information scarcity. I remember reading the cereal box over and over because it was the only thing to read at breakfast. I read everything in the newspaper because that's what I had. Library trips were a big deal.
Now, though, I have an elaborate series of tricks for managing information abundance. Inbox zero. Browser tab zero. Instapaper, Pinboard, Amazon wishlist, Netflix queue. And Leechblock, beloved Leechblock. I have two laptops, work and fun, and the main difference is that on the work one I can't access certain sorts of information.
What will be especially interesting to me is to see how kids who are growing up now end up handling this stuff. I expect they'll be much better than me at this.