Monday, January 08, 2007
Loss of Serendipity???
Today, I read an excellent article forwarded to me by my NS supervisor, Mr Dennis Wong. This article is about the joy of serendipity being sacrificed in the modern world of today where efficiency rules. As I read through the article, thoughts began to rush into my head. I had to *nod my head* as I slowly absorb wat the author is trying to remind us of... ie the joy of serendipity! The art of discovering something that you are not actually looking out for. I must agree that with great leaps by technology and the new media - internet, all it takes is just a few clicks and you will find what you want. There's no surprises, no chance of coming across things that may be interesting, simply put NO SERENDIPITY. Zero chance!
True, we may embrace the convenience and efficiency of the internet... well at least i do. All information can be easily found. Like when i will just googled for particular restaurant and check out what's its speciality, location, opening hours. Like I will check out that particular ktv has what packages, pricelists. Like I will DEFINITELY use the internet for sources for projects, And last sem i changed to reading news online instead of buying the newspapers - i can juz choose which category of news i want to read instead of flipping thru the pages. Like I will just click the address of the destination that I want to go into www.streetdirectory.com and print out the map!
BUT I had just sacrificed serendipity for efficiency! It may surprise me when i visit a restaurant and find that delicious speciality myself instead of just googled it. I may have go to the library and browse thru the books and find one title that interests me. I am also recalling the moments when I realli buy straits times to read daily and those funny and interesting news that juz eh ... you know ... amazed that this can realli happen. Hmmm ...
Yesh! Serendipity may seem to waste time, especially against the backdrop of the times now where speed is everything. However, life will just not be fun with those little surprises that will brighten up the day. This is quite important to me now, where mugging for exams seem to be the only activity. Haiz ... no life ... mugger ... nerd ... all these "titles" come looking for me... haha... Thus, serendipity does indeed makes my life better to go on or in a bigger picture, everyone's life not so dull. All these little surprises and discoveries can become those small kopi-thiam talk and gathering talk too ... haha ...
Thus, I just decided to revert back to my old ways of reading the hardcopies of newspaper daily just for 2hrs. I know I can come up with that little 2 hrs. Thats all.
For the excellent article: http://www.sptimes.com/2006/03/26/news_pf/Perspective/The_endangered_joy_of.shtml
Today, I read an excellent article forwarded to me by my NS supervisor, Mr Dennis Wong. This article is about the joy of serendipity being sacrificed in the modern world of today where efficiency rules. As I read through the article, thoughts began to rush into my head. I had to *nod my head* as I slowly absorb wat the author is trying to remind us of... ie the joy of serendipity! The art of discovering something that you are not actually looking out for. I must agree that with great leaps by technology and the new media - internet, all it takes is just a few clicks and you will find what you want. There's no surprises, no chance of coming across things that may be interesting, simply put NO SERENDIPITY. Zero chance!
True, we may embrace the convenience and efficiency of the internet... well at least i do. All information can be easily found. Like when i will just googled for particular restaurant and check out what's its speciality, location, opening hours. Like I will check out that particular ktv has what packages, pricelists. Like I will DEFINITELY use the internet for sources for projects, And last sem i changed to reading news online instead of buying the newspapers - i can juz choose which category of news i want to read instead of flipping thru the pages. Like I will just click the address of the destination that I want to go into www.streetdirectory.com and print out the map!
BUT I had just sacrificed serendipity for efficiency! It may surprise me when i visit a restaurant and find that delicious speciality myself instead of just googled it. I may have go to the library and browse thru the books and find one title that interests me. I am also recalling the moments when I realli buy straits times to read daily and those funny and interesting news that juz eh ... you know ... amazed that this can realli happen. Hmmm ...
Yesh! Serendipity may seem to waste time, especially against the backdrop of the times now where speed is everything. However, life will just not be fun with those little surprises that will brighten up the day. This is quite important to me now, where mugging for exams seem to be the only activity. Haiz ... no life ... mugger ... nerd ... all these "titles" come looking for me... haha... Thus, serendipity does indeed makes my life better to go on or in a bigger picture, everyone's life not so dull. All these little surprises and discoveries can become those small kopi-thiam talk and gathering talk too ... haha ...
Thus, I just decided to revert back to my old ways of reading the hardcopies of newspaper daily just for 2hrs. I know I can come up with that little 2 hrs. Thats all.
For the excellent article: http://www.sptimes.com/2006/03/26/news_pf/Perspective/The_endangered_joy_of.shtml
# posted by QQ @ 6:08 PM 
