Information Overload
Who are the true gatekeepers of information these days? DIY Journalism
Whenever I cannot come up with a topic to write about in a youth voices post, I look at websites such as msn or yahoo to see if any of the featured news stories spark my interest. If I still can't find anything interesting I browse other sites. Today, I was feeling particularly overwhelmed by the amount of information I was sifting through, simply to come up with a measly youth voices post. It got me thinking about the sheer amount of information the internet offers up. Some of it very helpful, but a lot of it is simply crap. The internet has many benefits: I can find stores, hotels, restaurants in a few seconds, talk to friends or family across the country, find breaking news stories or watch tv episodes I missed. But sometimes I become frustrated in trying to find legitimate information on the internet, because of sheer amount of unreliable websites floating around.
It’s much easier to publish information on the Internet than to publish a book or periodical in print. Since it’s easier, Web posters are not always as careful to make sure that the information is accurate...The seeming anonymity of the Internet also encourages some people to write things quickly, without checking to be sure of their facts or their conclusions. Most of us have had the experience of sending by email something we wrote quickly—perhaps when rushed or angry. Often these are things we wouldn’t print, sign, and mail, because those extra steps give us time to consider our words more carefully, and also because we recognize a higher expectation that things in print should be trustworthy.
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