You can always tell if I've read the newspaper by looking at it. I'll start off by checking the box scores on C14, skip to an article about the U.S. Open on C3 and then find out where the high school football game is this weekend on C5. After I'm done reading the section, it's a bigger mess than trying to refold a map on a road trip.
Some people would advise me that if I am so concerned with returning my newspaper to its original condition after I read it, then I should read it the way it's meant to be read, from the front to back. But doing things the way they are supposed to be done bores me.
I used to think I was just scatterbrained or random, but the onslaught of the Internet has helped me to embrace my nonlinear way of thinking.
Who are these editor people who think they can tell me what I'm going to read AND how I'm going to read it? The priorities of my interests don't always coincide with the order the editor has selected. That's why I like what the Web has done for news. It allows me to choose to read what I want and when I want it.
If I want more information, I can google it. If I don't understand a word the writer uses, I don't have to gather up the energy to find my honker-of-a-dictionary on the top shelf of my closet. I can pull up my own on-screen dictionary with a simple click. No motivation necessary.
What's even better about getting news off the Internet (besides getting less ink on my fingers) is that I can understand news at a different level. From Lawrence, I can see what the actual view from my seat will be like before I buy tickets to a Miami Dolphins game. Or, I can take a quiz to find out which presidential candidate I most identify with on the issues.
Wherever the wind blows me, the Internet allows me to go. Not only am I a more efficient consumer of media because of the Web, but being web savvy also gives me the gumption to explore topics more deeply and more creatively than ever before.
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