| > And reading that book was genuinely exciting, because with TV and offline games being the only alternatives, it was your strongest source of dopamine. I note with interest the things you left out. Radio, for one. Clubs and societies for another. (BPOE, Odd Fellows, Elks, Red Men, etc.) Older houses have big porches in part because sitting on the porch, talking, and chatting with neighbors was part of the social life in the pre-TV era. (Also because there wasn't A/C.) So was taking a walk around the town square in the evening, including with local musicians playing in the bandstand. Some farmers markets are still like that. Square dancing was quite popular too. And church activities, including church dinners, picnics and revivals. > In the pre-Internet era This is not something special about the Internet era! Older generation also felt overwhelmed by the information sources available to them. This feeling of "information overload" is older than I am. The phrase dates from the 1960s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_overload At https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21118893 I give a couple of older examples, like: > The problems of adequate storage, preservation and service for the increasing flood of periodical literature coming into their collections are of special urgency for librarians. Many studies have been made, all of which view with deep concern the rapidly increasing rate of growth of American libraries.’ Such growth, if continued even at the present rate, will in a short time result in collections of almost unmanageable proportions, both as to physical size and servicing. ("The Use of High Reduction Microfilm in Libraries", J. Am. Doc. Summer 1950 - https://www.proquest.com/openview/14f723869613e43376c4a7646f... ) Looking now for "flood of publications", I easily found things like > The last decade has witnessed the publication of an unparalleled number of books dealing with the social, economic, and political institutions of our own and other lands. Amid this flood of publications it is unusual to find one devoted entirely to the Constitution of the United States. - https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/437681 (1922) > THE flood of publications recommending changes in education during the emergency
appears overwhelming to the personnel of the schools - https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/440941?jou... (1943) > just turn off the Internet and buy a book, but can you really pretend it doesn't exist? And how long can you stick to it? I don't say that, because even without the Internet there's still overload. Accept that you will not read every book in the library. Accept that you cannot know everything. Accept that others may point out something you missed and respond "Thank you!" rather than being embarrassed or ashamed. |