I am sitting here, using Google as my magnifying glass—searching for breadcrumbs. It is getting late. I am not searching for MP3s, commercialized news, java games, or even recipes for Aunt Maybelle’s Bavarian cream raisin bran toffee. I am looking for something real. Sometimes I find it, but it is gone just as quickly as it comes. The Internet used to be real; however, since the ‘Net became the next big thing, everyone and their weasel has a connection to the ever-expanding data juggernaut that is steadily becoming the heartbeat of the Information Age. Much like how the television has become wedged into our daily lives, it is hard to find someone who does not have at least some form of net presence.
Is this a problem? Maybe. When the Internet was difficult and sometimes expensive to access, you had to have something of substance to warrant anyone visiting your site. Nowadays, the tables have turned. It is no longer a matter of simply viewing the content you want—you have to fight tooth and nail just to get to any content. With bandwidth capacity on the rise, already bloated sites scramble to fill in the gap with more self-indulgent eye-candy and junk filler. Blind links try to lead you astray, advertisements ‘conveniently’ pop up in front of you, hoping to distract you in feeble attempts to persuade you into buying not only their product, but also to buy into the notion that this is how it always has been, and should be.
Ok Travis, you ask, what are we supposed to do about it? Bitch and moan? That doesn’t solve anything. To this I say: SHUT UP I’M RANTING HERE. However, if you must know, real content does not have any ulterior motive other than supplying its content to the masses. Even better if it does not care about catering to the compromising and conflicting whims of those said masses. The ideal content provider, in my definition of ‘keeping it real’ would have to, as a prerequisite, stick firm to their beliefs and—most importantly—not try to push filler as content. I am fed up with sites that have nothing to say, but say it so loudly.
So I crawl the aethers of Google, in a vain attempt to find something substantial and lasting. I have found a few good hits, and when I do I bookmark them. The list is beginning to stale even as I write, however. I want to believe that this is just a phase, that people will somehow magically realize the best motivator for gaining acceptance (and yes, even profit) is a genuine interest. I don’t want to feel like I’m being pushed into anything, I want to be drawn there. The signal-to-noise ratio keeps growing, and yet I remain, the tasty morsels of goodness sustaining me until I can get my next fix, somewhere out there, lurking in the shadows. I hope that in some small way this site ‘keeps it real’, and that those out there scavenging for breadcrumbs might find a little something to chew on as they wander, picking through the fodder of a commercial blitzkrieg.