Over the weekend, as I was helping a friend to compile some questions for a pub quiz, I came to a shocking realisation: the Internet has made this a much harder task – or, at any rate, a much more time-consuming one – than it used to be in days gone by.
Paradoxical? Perhaps, but it is definitely so.
It is another phenomenon of the information overload with which our modern-day connectedness assails us. When I last set questions for a quiz (many years ago), it was just a matter of relying on what I knew. I seldom had to look anything up; and, if I did, the research would be ruthlessly brisk, not to say perfunctory.
Now, the bottomless rabbit-hole of Wikipedia can suck you in for hours at a time.
1 comment:
Moreover, of course, twenty years ago I could, with justice, place a lot more confidence in my memory. Nowadays, I realise I have to check most of the stuff I think I know.
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