We're not getting dumber, we're getting fuller. And I don't mean our stomachs, I mean our brains. The Information Age begat the Overload Years and now it's hard to know what to hold onto and what to send to the Recycle Bin. Face it, there's only a finite amount of information a brain can contain, which is why I get afraid that if I put one more piece of information in my head something important like my social security number will fall out my ear. Whoops! Oh well, I don't use it very often anyway.
Mad gives an overview of the book:
We're not getting dumber, we're getting fuller. And I don't mean our stomachs, I mean our brains. Think about it. Once upon a time all we needed to know was "Animal big. Me get smooshed," "Berries pretty. Ogg no breathe," and "Feet hurt. Wish me have wheel."
But life isn't that simple anymore. Nowadays we have a lot more on our minds, from what we have to do at work to how we're going to find the time to do it when we're not at work, from what order to push the buttons on the microwave so the chicken defrosts instead of turning to rubber to remembering which of the 247 channels that scroll by on the Preview Guide we actually get, because, lord knows, whenever a show catches our eye all we wind up seeing is a message telling us the phone number to call to subscribe.
About Mad
Mad Dog, whose mother calls him Barry Gottlieb most of the time, has been writing a weekly humor column since 1995. It's appeared in newspapers and magazines including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, San Francisco...











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