I've been doing a lot of thinking recently, what with my online time having been cut down to somewhere approaching the likes of the 13th century. That in itself probably says something about either the internet or myself, so I'll go off topic here and freethought my way down to the "Preview Message" button. Not that I was on topic to begin with.

It's a famous quote from somewhere that I won't mention for Darien's sake, that when human beings stop using their mouths it allows their brains to work. Information is the antichrist to the holitude of thought - you simply can't think against the tide when you're buried under steaming piles of data. And mixed metaphors. Now, we all know that the *idea* of the internet is really good and stuff. A global sharing of information, where empty minds can gather and like minds can meet. Television was also a great idea, allowing people to absorb information or entertainment from around the globe, and letting them choose what they want to see. But, like the telly, the 'net has Gone Bad. Just as networks are pumping out hour after hour of mindless dross over 6,000,000,000 channels (or thereabouts), the internet is a massive stockpile of fetid garbage. There are still the occasional areas which the mank has yet to seep into, and in general you CAN find whatever information you set out to. Or at least, you can after trying four or five broken links and closing a few popups. So for that reason, and for that reason alone, the world-wide web is still standing. But the problem with giving everyone a voice and letting them say whatever they want with it, is that everyone has a voice and can say whatever they want with it. On their own, people are insightful, witty, and capable of not being stupid. Group them together en masse, and they become the General Public, able to make Survivor prime-time viewing and keep GameSpy in business. The signal-to-noise ratio decreases with the number of signals. That is why the net has become so braindead.

And the worst thing is, we're all responsible. Within the past week (or even today, if you use the internet a lot) you've spent idle time reading tosh online. It's possible to lose an entire afternoon exploring a little corner of the web, and what do you get out of it at the end? A headache and the feeling that you've wasted a day. Hands up here all those who go for a walk outside at any available opportunity. Hands up all those who take long-cuts when walking to the bus, just to spend more time alone with your thoughts. Musing on the day. Musing on tomorrow. Just generally chillin' with the cerebellum. Put them down now, people are starting to talk. I've found myself doing this every day, just to get away from the information overload and relax my brain by letting it think. Often enough I think about nothing of any import, but it's still much more than I can do at home or in the library. Then, having mused up some sort of coherent thought, I consider telling you Rink-types about it. So I go online, and THUD. It's like walking through treacle in lead wellies.

I'm getting dangerously close to that button now, and probably dangerously close to having an IE crash destroy this post. I think I'll sign off with an unoriginal in-name quote and leave this to the mercy of Mousie. Hm, I never did get on to the meaning of life, after all.

Mat"unoriginal"thew