Thursday, November 03, 2011

Not so trivial any more

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.


[OMF’s Tony has recently entertained me with a pair of quirky quizzes, here and here.]


1 comment:

Froog said...

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.