Hide and Seek / Hide and Think

Growing up in Michigan we had one t.v. channel ... I KNOW! ... It was a black and white one, too. Not that color made much difference with the Three Stooges shows. But, my point ... the Evening News ... it was soooo boring. Ironically, now I’m a news addict.

The thing about it, news was scarce in those days. My grandfather’s whole evening routine revolved around the evening news. And then it would be talked about over the family dinner.

I think as news consumers, we’ve gone from information infatuation to love to complete overload.

My dad has told stories of how he’d watch newsreels at the movies to see what was happening around the world. I know my kids were listening when he told the story, but their eyes were kind of glazed over. I don’t think they understood the whole news-time continuum thing because today you can open a laptop with high-speed wireless internet and view streaming video of just about anything in real time.

For years, I’ve had a subscription to the local newspaper. I’d read it front to back while enjoying my lunch hour. I still do. However, for the most part it is already old news. And I can “read” the rag in about 10 minutes.

With 24/7 news channels, sport channels, weather channels, federal/state/local government channels, and YouTube, I get all the info I need when and where I want it. Couple that with email, cell phone, car radio, podcasts that are downloaded to the iPod, and my daily blog reads, I easily get info overload on an hourly basis.

We are not lacking in information. Everybody is talking at the same time. It is almost white noise. And I’m starting to spend more time trying to turn it all off than feed my addiction. I no longer seek news out because it finds me on my own. I never wanted to know Britney Spears goes commando. But, I know that information. It found me. Not that that is news in anyway. But, it is taking up valuable brain space.

What IS hard to find, however, is journalists who are critical thinkers. They are hidden in the vast white noise of screaming information overload. Fair and balanced reporting has simply vanished it seems.

I don’t want to hear everything. I want it sorted out. I want a critical thinker to tell me the truth with no agendas or skewed opinions.

And I want to be engaged, enlightened. Make me think and wonder. Write well. Tell me a good story. If nothing else, be interesting. Make it memorable.

So, today I have a choice to make. I either get smarter about seeking out my information from the plethora of overloaded media or I just turn it all off. Because, if I see one more video of a guy dropping Mentos in bottles of Diet Coke I might seriously hide and think about moving to a cabin in the mountains and live completely off the grid.