In a recent Facebook chat with Ali, I made the observation that a lot of people seem more interested in watching a video of a chicken on a skateboard than in doing almost anything else while they’re online.
I know how it goes: someone sees a funny video and they send you a link. The video is usually something silly, so it’s good for a laugh. We’ve all done it.
But is this what we want?
There are a lot of interesting folks online – whether it is on Facebook, Twitter, or on a blog. Sometimes the hardest part is finding them.
There’s also a lot of valuable information online. Some of it is useful in our day-to-day lives and some of it is just interesting in a Discovery Channel sort of way.
Are you a chicken on a skateboard kind of person or do you spend your time looking for information or interesting people?
What’s your preference?
As I was thinking about writing this post, I received this sarahemadden tweet, that was retweeted by SavvyLY.
Here’s where the link took me.
This video, posted in October 2008 by ParryGripp, has over 3,600,000 views.
Never mind. I have my answer.
The chicken wins!
Ray } – 
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Personally, I find chickens very interesting and informative people. And if they can skateboard, too? Duuude!
OK, back to my research…
Hi Sirrahc,
LOL, good one. Duuude! Yes, a talented chicken should probably be admired.
Enjoy your research. Ray
Ok, I thought I was a mixture but now that I’ve thought about it I guess I’m more of a chicken on a skateboard. Life is too short to ALWAYS be so serious.
Hi Tristan,
Okay, that’s another vote for the chicken.
I agree, life is short, but I wonder if the time that we do have is best spent on things like that.
So tell me, how many times did you replay the chimp? I’ll admit to playing it more than once. LOL Ray
Balance, Ray, balance. Yes, life is short. It’s also meant to be enjoyed. Within reason, of course. This post reminded me of something I wanted to write about. Thanks for the inspiration.
Hi Tristan,
I’m balanced. Somethimes I’m interested in politics, but there are other times I go with the fun stuff — world affairs.
I did admit to watching the chimp, though. There you have it. Balance!
I’ll look for your post. Ray
I have to admit that I’m always looking to learn something online – I luve “research”. But, it can be just as much a distraction from the daily grind as more entertaining online views (the chicken, et al)
Good point, Trish.
Either interest can be equally distracting. I hadn’t thought of that.
Ray
Hi Ray,
I like to reward myself with online time wasters after accomplishing various tasks throughout the day. Because of my job, I believe the majority of my day is spent researching/learning. I’d probably divide it 75/25.
The article I mentioned this morning actually focuses on how gamers, but you may still find the numbers interesting/relevant.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/29/online-gaming-statistics_n_556879.html
Best,
Jenn
Hi Jenn,
Yes, I guess that those time wasters can be viewed as a reward. We all do it. So tell me, would my looking up of overnight game scores be considered research or a time waster? LOL
Thanks for that link. It’s not surprising that gaming is big! I don’t play video games anymore, but there was a time when I was totally hooked on Nintendo sports games. The graphics back then couldn’t compare to what they can do now, but I know that I spent a lot of time playing games.
I was going to write a follow-up post to this one, but I may as well spill the beans now. One of the reasons that I wrote this post was to see if it would generate more interest than my usually more serious, political posts. If comments are any indication, it has. So, the feedback to this post reinforces the idea for writing it — entertainment trumps most everything else online.
That’s not bad or good, it just the way it is, I guess.
Thanks for commenting,
Ray
I’m serious so much of the time that humorous stuff on the ‘net often takes me by surprise. I just shared a Simon’s Cat video on Facebook ‘cos it’s just come out (he takes ages to do new ones, and they’re great fun) and I found myself watching it twice and chortling each time! The curious thing about all this is that offline, I’m quite a clown!
I think the thing of it is that when people go online their attention span is quite short, so they get into the things that they’d been meaning to do for some while, or have to attend to quickly and then – is there any attention span left for anything deep? I’ve been online today for hours (longer than I should be, as usual) and my ability to concentrate, now compared with two or three hours ago, is shrinking by the minute!
Hi Val, I’m not familiar with Simon’s Cat. I’ll have to look for it, or maybe you can come back and post a link. If people find the funny stuff entertaining that’s fine and well. Actually, I had forgotten that I linked to the chimp video and caught myself watching it just now.
Yes, I can understand short attention spans. There’s so much information at our fingertips that we are often itching to move on to the next thing. I see it a bit differently though. As with television, there is a lot on, but not much that I actually want to watch, so I tend to be less interested in the odd and unusual and more interested in things that stimulate my mind.
I have to agree that after spending hours on line I’m less likely to be as focused as when the on line session started. That’s when I head on over to Netflix.
Ray