The avalanche of information that hits us everyday is enormous. It’s arguably difficult to remain well informed. Under the weight of material streaming towards us at light speed we must be ruthless editors. A nice cartoon summed this up with one person saying to another: I’d like to be well informed, but I’d like to stay sane.
It’s not right to say that this situation is the same as it’s always been. Perhaps in past generations a slowness or paucity of daily News meant that imaginations flourished, and people made up plausible stories to fill the gaps. Now, I could say social media keyboard warriors make up the stories that we have to filter to distinguish what’s real and what’s fake.
Should I lament the passing of paper? I’ve been an advocate of digitisation. Most magazines, journals, newspapers and alike have an on-line version. They must do to stay in business. Boxes of books in a shed don’t add a lot to the quality of life. Colourful aviation and motorcycle magazines weigh a ton.
One aspect of moving house is digging into stratigraphy of times gone by. I’m not especially a person who hordes stuff. However, I do keep far more than is wise. Moving house is an excellent opportunity to recycle, shred paper and visit a charity shop or two with piles of books.
A stack of daily newspapers that sat next to the living room door in a wicker basket and they had to go. At the bottom of the pile were headlines from 2010. Even with this menagerie of News I had to save one or two notable cuttings. The last 14-years are so incongruous that trying to explain them is almost impossible without some references.
Electronic media can pile up too. I’ve several hard disks from past computers that really should be crushed. Photos may sit on them so they will get a reprieve or is that just putting off sorting.
What seemed important at the time eventually fades. I’m unsure that sifting through the layers of accumulated stuff helps gain perspective. I suppose it must, to a degree. This clashes with a phenomenon that comes with age. I can vividly remember moments that happened a decade ago, and more, better than I can remember where I left my car keys. That’s not entirely true but the general idea is that memory is far from linear. The brain stores images of the past in a peculiarly selective manner.
I guess this is one reason for keeping a minimum archive of past events. They trigger the remembering of moments. That fills in the gaps that grow all too quickly. Moving house is one of the most stressful events in life. On the upside, a move creates an opportunity to rethink and take a new path.
John Vincent 