Media vs. Real Life

I follow 62 people on Twitter at this point. Compared to a lot of people on Twitter, that's really not many, but with only 62 people to tweet I still have days when I check my feed after a few hours and I have 100+ tweets.

tweet! tweet! tweet!
even the sound of birds get annoying

How am i supposed to read and retain all of that?!

Plus on a daily basis I try my best to read the Winnipeg Free Press online, the Metro, and any important article that CBC Manitoba may tweet. Plus I have my friends and classmates linking me to news articles all day on Facebook and Twitter from different news sources which I try to read as well.

I still feel like I'm constantly behind in the media.

Information overload will claim the sanity of countless students every year.

It is so difficult to feel like you have all the correct information on a new story when it's easy to find and read countless articles, blogs, and editorials about the topic. How do you know exactly what's relevant and what's not? How do you know if you're reading something completely slanted to one side of the debate?

I just want to be able to hold my own in an intellectual conversation about recent events. But wait... that's another way we gain information. Word of mouth.

So there's really no way to escape information overload if you want to feel like a working member of society, is there?

outside can be nice too

To be as properly informed as I would like to be I would have to:

-watch the morning news when I get up

-listen to the radio on the way to school

-read the papers when I'm in line for my morning coffee

-check the blogs as soon as I get to class

-simultaneously have my news apps going on my iPad

-tweet about all that I've read so far, then read the replies I get

-repeat previous steps using different papers, stations, and blogs

With all that crammed into my day plus all day school and all night work, sleep would become obsolete. Oh yeah... and assignments and studying.

Maybe that's the way some people live, but I can't do it. I have deadlines, study material, my job, and some days even a personal life bouncing around my mind.

I love being informed. I love feeling like I have a grasp on reality, and on the world around me but sometimes I need a break. I need my time to enjoy music, and outside. That's the real world to me.

lazy cabin days. No cell service, internet, or TV.

Not my computer, my iPad, or my Twitter and Facebook feed.

I would rather have a couple hours a day of ignorance to enjoy life.
Information is important, but when you look back on your student life you can remember your iPhone, Twitter, Facebook, and news apps.

OR

You can remember the people in your life, the relationships you formed, and the moments you enjoyed and really lived. Real memories.

This is what I want to remember... not my iPad.