The internet giveth and the internet taketh away. It has enabled some amazing things in our world but it has also created so many voids. For a few years now I have been lamenting the loss of journey and discovery and what it might be doing to future generations.
I am the last generation to not have internet and then have it. That means I have experienced wacky things like video rental locations, records stores, and and brick and mortar magic shops. You see, there was a time that when, if you wanted something, you had to leave your house to go procure it. If you didn't have a car you had to bug friends or family to get you there before they closed (or take public transit) and Anubis forbid they didn't have it and you had to go to another (and another, and another) store.
Never again will you discover new music while searching through piles of CDs for that ONE song you recorded onto a cassette tape from the radio. You will never know the JOY of standing in a Blockbuster Video for hours while your siblings fight with your parents over what movies to get. Long gone are the days of going into a badly lit treasure trove of magical offerings while some grumpy mage slings advice you don't want to hear but one day will be thankful they did.
We have lost something amazing without the act of the journey and discovery.
Everything is at our fingertips now and because of that so few things have any real value. You cherished that record or CD because you had to travel the realm and interact with the locals to get it. You had to slay that dragon called "the outside world" to find your treasures. Now so much is disposable and that includes magic.
The social media generation doesn't have to work hard to learn or obtain the secrets of our art so they treat it like everything else... disposable distractions. Without the experience of the journey and discovery they no longer put stock into it's importance hence it becomes another trivial and fleeting toy to be abandoned as quickly as they purchased it from their phone.
Sure, there are those who know the intrinsic value of certain things, magic or otherwise. However, they are currently outnumbered by those who vie for imaginary internet points and that quick hit of sweet, sweet dopamine. The joy of those thumbs up and views fade fast and they have to chew through material to get that high over and over. Who has time to sort through bins and shelves when you can tap a few buttons and be done with it?
So my advice to you is make more of an effort to go on adventures. Call up a friend, leave your house, and go on a journey to discover something new.
You might just find more than you bargained for.
