13 November 2005
Remote Controls
When I was a kid, it was normally to have television sets without remote controls. At that time, there were only two channels in the Egyptian TV (Channel-1 and Channel-2). So it was not a big problem then to deal with TV's without remote contols. Then in the late eighties they added a third channel and after that they reached eight channels or so. At this point remote controls were not luxury any more, and people started to use them to switch between them different channels in order to find a suitable programs to watch. Actually they all suck, but we didn't have any other option then. Then there was the satellite Era, where people found themselves receiving hundreds of TV channels from all over the world. At this point we didn't use remote controls to find a suitable program to see, but there was the joy of switching between these channels forward and backward so quickly. It was very common to someone sitting on the sofa, and moving between the different channels one after the other for hours without watching anything. May be it was because most of these channels didn't worth watching and may be because people were happy to find such huge number of channels and wanted to watch them all at the same time.
A similar situation is happening here in the Blogsphere, there are too many blogs to read. And sometimes I just move from one blog to another without reading a single post in any of them. Sometimes I may see the posts titles, and sometimes just the blog design. I try to make a list in my mind for my favorite blogs, and sometimes blog aggregators are useful to see what's new out there. It might be true that excess of information is sometimes worse than the lack of it.
Tags: General, Whatever, Gr33n Data
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It is overwhelming at times to get to all the great blogs that are out there.
ReplyDeleteOverwhelm is a feeling of not being able to make a choice or take an action. Why should the number of blogs be overwhelming if we are still able to make a conscious choice.
We filter so many things in life already: Images, sounds, feelings, experiences. Blogs will be no different. And for our own sanity we must make a conscious decision of what is enough.
I try to limit my blog reading to 30-40 minutes each day and do this as an alternative to reading the newspaper (much more interesting, insighful and inspiring). My choices of blogs are based on people I feel that I would like to sit down with in person and have a chat over coffee or dinner. Occassionally I follow a link from a much loved blog and find another interesting person with intersting observations and thoughts, and maybe they too will become a regular read.
Not all blogs are good blogs and not all posts are good posts (IMHO) but I read what and who I trust and enjoy.
Choice is a good thing. The most posts there are the more chance there is that everyone will be able to connect with someone like them.
well in my case am more into reading others posts than posting at my own blog!...n' like jewelgurl i also read for ppl I feel that I would like to sit down with in person and have a chat over coffee or dinner...n' unlike u...i like long posts :p...
ReplyDelete"At this point we didn't use remote controls to find a suitable program to see, but there was the joy of switching between these channels forward and backward so quickly."
ReplyDeleteHere in the U.S. that's considered a "man thing". My husband did that when we had cable and it drove me nuts. sharks, is it a "man thing" in Egypt?
Sharks: "also read for ppl I feel that I would like to sit down with in person and have a chat over coffee or dinner" ... That's interesting, and hope you like reading my blog ;)
ReplyDeleteLaura: May be this is true here too.
Thanks Tarek n' i do enjoy reading ur blog...
ReplyDeletehehe lura!...actually am from Syria not Egypt...but i guess it's like u said it's a "man thing"...though am the one who drives my brothers nut once i put my hands on the remote control :D...i guess being raised with boys had it's disadvantages :p...