We all know the pace of business is changing.
We started by favoring faxes over letters. But a fax that takes a few minutes to send can sit in a tray for a half hour before being read.
So we moved to e-mail, which pops up on a person's desk within a minute after it's sent. But what if I'm not at my desk?
Now I'm expected to read e-mail on my Blackberry while waiting for a coffee or even, imagine the rudeness, during a meeting with someone else. I won't even discuss tweets and wall postings.
Lawyers who used to write a three-page letter, mail it and wait a week for a response now demand an answer today. I've gotten multiple e-mails from the same lawyer within an hour demanding that I respond or he'll go to a judge.
What impacts individuals also impacts our institutions. Newspapers have lost subscribers, revenue and staff. Some have gone online only.
Even radio and TV stations have had to go online to remain relevant and attract viewers and listeners, all of whom have less time to listen. The result? Fewer journalists covering more stories each, but fewer stories overall.
That has hurt public debate. We have seemingly infinite sources of news, but what we get everyday is much less reliable and complete than it used to be. A print reporter used to have days or weeks to gather information, write the basics, get comments from all sides and print a comprehensive story, vetted by experienced editors. Now the print news cycle has vanished, merged into the need for the latest posting.
News can't wait for balance, reason or reflection. It has to hit the homepage now. The result is a series of quick bites of news that bounce from one reality to another, from “Boy Carried Away By Balloon!” to “Boy Found Safe!” to “Balloon Hoax!”
The story we see first is whatever the reporter can get online before his competitors post it. Updates fill in the details, sometimes over days or weeks.
As details emerge, extreme partisans carp at us from the sidelines with inaccurate and incendiary comments. We are left to do a lot of analyzing, with little time to do it. On political issues, we may respond with a point of view long before we have the true facts.
How can we conduct reasoned public debate on any important issue? By taking the time to think.
Be a better information consumer. Pause to consider who is telling the story. Does it really make sense? Are the facts likely to be all true or only partly true?
We have to become our own editors and we have to check for backup information when the issue is important to us. After all, democracy is still our responsibility and we'd better take it seriously.
On a final note, this will be my last column as chairman of the Carlsbad Chamber's Board of Directors. Come January, my fellow board member, Gina McBride, takes the gavel, and I'm looking forward to sitting in the seat that reads “Immediate Past Chair.” Best of luck Gina, and to all of you a fine holiday season and a prosperous New Year!
We started by favoring faxes over letters. But a fax that takes a few minutes to send can sit in a tray for a half hour before being read.
So we moved to e-mail, which pops up on a person's desk within a minute after it's sent. But what if I'm not at my desk?
Now I'm expected to read e-mail on my Blackberry while waiting for a coffee or even, imagine the rudeness, during a meeting with someone else. I won't even discuss tweets and wall postings.
Lawyers who used to write a three-page letter, mail it and wait a week for a response now demand an answer today. I've gotten multiple e-mails from the same lawyer within an hour demanding that I respond or he'll go to a judge.
What impacts individuals also impacts our institutions. Newspapers have lost subscribers, revenue and staff. Some have gone online only.
Even radio and TV stations have had to go online to remain relevant and attract viewers and listeners, all of whom have less time to listen. The result? Fewer journalists covering more stories each, but fewer stories overall.
That has hurt public debate. We have seemingly infinite sources of news, but what we get everyday is much less reliable and complete than it used to be. A print reporter used to have days or weeks to gather information, write the basics, get comments from all sides and print a comprehensive story, vetted by experienced editors. Now the print news cycle has vanished, merged into the need for the latest posting.
News can't wait for balance, reason or reflection. It has to hit the homepage now. The result is a series of quick bites of news that bounce from one reality to another, from “Boy Carried Away By Balloon!” to “Boy Found Safe!” to “Balloon Hoax!”
The story we see first is whatever the reporter can get online before his competitors post it. Updates fill in the details, sometimes over days or weeks.
As details emerge, extreme partisans carp at us from the sidelines with inaccurate and incendiary comments. We are left to do a lot of analyzing, with little time to do it. On political issues, we may respond with a point of view long before we have the true facts.
How can we conduct reasoned public debate on any important issue? By taking the time to think.
Be a better information consumer. Pause to consider who is telling the story. Does it really make sense? Are the facts likely to be all true or only partly true?
We have to become our own editors and we have to check for backup information when the issue is important to us. After all, democracy is still our responsibility and we'd better take it seriously.
On a final note, this will be my last column as chairman of the Carlsbad Chamber's Board of Directors. Come January, my fellow board member, Gina McBride, takes the gavel, and I'm looking forward to sitting in the seat that reads “Immediate Past Chair.” Best of luck Gina, and to all of you a fine holiday season and a prosperous New Year!