"Mom, Why is the Sky Blue?"

I was asked to read the article "Click" by Bill Tancer for an Information Science class I am taking.

Here is a link to his website: http://www.billtancer.com/ (which I think is actually pretty poorly designed- it reminds me of something that pops up by accident off another website, but I digress...)

This article discusses a few different items, from the idea that the internet allows for a better way to study human behavior because it allows people a place to be open and honest about things they are feeling. Tancer's example for this is the difference in what the top fears are that come up when fear is Googled on the internet, versus the top fears psychologists have listed. Tancer believes this difference has to do with the freedom (and possible anonymity) people feel when using the internet, versus talking to someone- even a counselor- in person.

My favorite part of the article is when Tancer discusses the amount of "How to's..." that are looked up on the internet and this got me to thinking about when I was a kid. I remember asking my parents' questions all the time and them not having answers. I have also begun to wonder if some of the answers they did tell me were something they came up with just to get me to stop asking. :)

Now that I am a mom - and I have a child that likes to ask questions- I have noticed that the internet is an amazing tool. I am able to answer my son’s questions honestly and with accuracy. When he asks a science question while hiking- we can run home and sees right away what the answer is. I can't tell you how cool that is. I have pondered if this instant gratification will rob from my son the feeling I used to get from looking at encyclopedias (yes, I was and continue to be a total nerd) and finding the answer to a question. But, then I also think about the questions I never had answered; the ones I forgot to ever look up... and I wonder what could have been? If I had looked up questions about plants, could that one thing have spurred me to become a botanist? Or, a question about dolphins, would I have become a marine biologist?

My son will never have to worry about this.

Every question he wants to know an answer to, he will find an answer within seconds. When he was really little, we used to have to write down the question and wait until we got home... but now, I can even look the answer up instantly on my phone. No more wondering if the plant we just walked through was poison ivy... Not that that has ever happened... :o