An addition to my constant struggle with the internet. As it is something I am quite familiar with, let's take music. I absolutely value the recommendations and articles the internet has afforded. Yet their pervasive nature does have some other implications. There is no longer any innocence with our musical tastes, and it is hard to for us to find out for ourselves who the real deal is. I can imagine that if you start a voyage nowadays, there is no period of discovery that is subsequently looked on awkwardly. You can be 15 and espouse about Trout Mask and Rock Bottom. One consequence is that there's no longer a sense of music that is beyond us, that is too advanced for where we are at currently: "anyone" can (and many do) rattle off opinions on such things even if they require a certain maturity on the listener's part.

Even leaving that aside, it is difficult not to get inundated with information, and we feel the need to keep up constantly. It is a contradiction of sorts, because maybe without it, I would likely never have even considered, umm, jazz, say. But now it feels like one has to qualify and justify everything...