You are the Bottleneck

In a world where you can google anything, you become the bottleneck in cultivating your own worldview. Not your trusted news anchor and not your favorite DJ on the radio.

YOU!

We don't rely much on radio and TV to break news and ideas to us. Radio and TV are always half a step behind the spread of news and ideas. Chances are that google has got there first.

So you are only as good as what you can google. The pressure shifts from them to you.

I try to work around the bottleneck of my own mind by signing up for blogs, podcasts, and visiting Google News often.

Here is the most important feature of blogs, podcasts and Google News: As and when and I am exposed to a new idea I can try out a new blogger/podcaster/news topic on that idea. I can keep it or remove it from the feed. I can try out this new idea before I decide to invest more time, money and effort pursuing it further.

For example, I was researching iPads before purchasing one. So I added an iPad topic to Google News. It helped me find out that Apple was about to release a new version in a few months. I could wait, so I did. When I was ready to purchase the iPad, I switched the topic off. I do the same with world events and science related topics.

I also buy and read books though I don't do it as diligently. A good way to try out a book before buying it is to read the author's blog if they have one.

The internet is at your fingertips.
It is up to your fingertips now.
Make them count.

Hello World!

The urge to write an I wish song style blog post here is strong, this being my first post on this website. I shall resist, however.

I have been fond of blogs since I discovered the magic of RSS. Then came the platforms of Instagram and Facebook which turned RSS on its head. After being lambasted for years with clickbait memes on Facebook, I found myself thinking of the days when I would be exposed to new ideas in the format of blogs. I had a good system going with Google Reader till it was killed.

The creative part of me wants to explore ideas. The social media wasteland seems cluttered with Buzzfeed style shit content. I am looking for ideas that have a shelf life of more than 10 seconds. I am forcing myself to dust off the old RSS reader subscriptions which have been chugging away loyally. Great people are still typing, producing beautiful words.

I have been primarily exploring ideas through my new hobbies, namely woodworking and youtubing. I still want to continue doing those. But woodworking and youtubing are activities that are a result of ideas, not platforms where ideas are formed and distilled. I need to distill and condense the jumble of thoughts that run through my brain -- and form consice ideas that I can then project into my hobbies. This is where this blog comes in. Let's see where it takes me.