Daily Musing: New Year's Resolution

Every new year, I make ambitious resolutions that almost never come to fruition.  This year, I have a couple that are hopefully more compatible with my lazy couch potato nature - to update this blog on a fairly regular basis and to start reading again.  The second is a departure from the spirit of this blog but one that touches on an issue that has been bothering me (and as it turns out, many of my friends) for some time, so thought I'd share.

I used to be an avid reader in my adolescent days, but at some point, television and, even more so, the internet, managed to claim a greater and greater share of my free time.  Good thing my parents stood their ground and kept me reigned in with dial-up until I went off to college.  Now, when I'm not watching TV, or rather even as I'm watching TV, I am immersed in the world wide web and all that it has to offer.  The first thing I do when I get up in the morning is to check my email, the weather, etc.  Basically, when I am indoors, I am rarely not looking at some sort of a screen.  As a result, I find it hard to set aside such addictions and start reading a book.  Or, if I do manage to do so, I am often so distracted by the need to check email or facebook, or to google something the reading made me think of, to the point I fear I have now developed ADD.  I am not alone in this though, I suspect - see below for the new trend in family pastime ... the days of the family sitting around reading books and even watching television together just may be numbered ...

Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

But is NPR (and many others) right in questioning whether the Internet is making us stupid? Certainly navigating Wikipedia's bottomless information abyss can only serve to make us more knowledgeable world citizens?  Ironically, the same case had once been brought against televisions, which offers its own share of informational, educational programming, though now the blame has shifted to the newer and more encompassing technology (it's amazing how many people don't even have TVs anymore, relying their computers instead).  Not saying that reading online or watching documentaries can take place of intricately crafted language that will test the limits of your imagination, but seeing that many of us are now trying to rediscover the fun of reading, I am hopeful that, just as television did not destroy literacy after so many decades, the Internet will also be something we can better-adapt to and use in moderation alongside the more traditional activities ...