The Information Age

        Also known as the Computer Age, or Computer Era, the Information Age is the present stage of the different eras of world history and human development that began with the Ice Age. The present era is an outflow of the contemporary Space Age that was preceded by the Jet Age, the historical period starting in the middle 70s when turbo-jet planes were introduced to mankind by way of the Super-Sonic Transport (SST).

In the present state, cybernetics and the internet have made information available anywhere from the four corners of the globe. As this essay is written, information and data continue pouring in millions by a minute. Decisions of world leaders and policy makers contribute to the bulk of knowledge shared in the web. Statistics from the stock market and foreign exchange could prove an unending challenge to businessmen and global investors. News comes from all over the world—floods in Thailand, a potentially explosive device found in England, a new song from Lady Gaga, Clint Eastwood’s last movie, a new Chanel show, the latest top-selling local liquor, a new friend in Facebook, plastic-eating bacteria off the coast off Mogadishu, a destructive virus in the internet, etc.

Information grows in every aspect of the arts and sciences. The reading ability of man and his capacity to take in information and his capability with which he can handle all the information have become a daunting challenge of “catch-me-if-you-can.” We elude this discomfort by reading only those data and information that we think we need, mostly those that are in the news, lest we be spending the rest of our lives reading everything that there is to read.

        Photos and pictures, movies and trailers also add to the information overload. Accessing your Google account is not an easy as it may seem. Often we are lost in the morass of notifications, advertisements and sexy lingerie before we can begin to do what we primarily intended to be doing in the computer. Then there are pop-ups, like when your Messenger tells you your brother or kin or friend is on the line. Be discreet with “How are you?” It could mean forever.

Scientific and practical research is a continuing process in the internet. Often we have to fill out lengthy questionnaires out of humanitarian considerations and personal belief that we could be of help in the continuing development of some products and or services in the world market. We may not notice it, but news of successful laboratory experiments come exploding in the web like a bang of the atom collider. The failed ones of course end up in a hushed whimper.

The world knows when its leaders are leading its populations astray, and despite the information that we could scoop free from the internet.com, common sense in making humanitarian decisions remain a big challenge. Countries like China, for instance, do not want to open a wider gate for competition in the world market. Fomenting wars remains to be the pastime of Pentagon. While fashion trends keep on going and coming back better, as history really repeats itself, the Ecstasy, cocaine and marijuana remain to be the bugging problems of sane societies of the world. Hijacking and kidnapping are some of the easiest avenues towards gold and riches. Out of this information maze we often realize that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a blog to be read, unless, perhaps, if you pass it around with flowers.