Helping the helpless - Shawn's Sense with Shawn Loughlin

Not to age myself, but I remember as a youth, distinctly, the lengths to which I, usually with the help of my parents, had to go to conduct research for schoolwork. It usually involved dusting off our volumes of Encyclopedia Britannica or, in later years, our copy of Microsoft Encarta, an early digital encyclopedia contained on a handful of CDs. Or, of course, there was the trip to the library.

 

If I had a ride, I (and maybe a friend) could make a day of it. The Pickering Public Library was, after all, in very close proximity to both the recreation centre and the Pickering Town Centre, as well as a variety of strip malls and other standalone shops. If I had to walk, it was 45 minutes from my house to the library and it felt like a lot longer on the way back hauling a backpack full of books up that hill on Valley Farm Road so we could cut through the forest.

 

That is if the books you needed were even in at the time. Among the maddest of mad dashes came when your class was assigned something on the same topic. You and 25 of your closest friends (which doesn’t even take into account students from other schools and standard, run-of-the-mill library users) were now in a sprint for the library for the one book on said topic. There were also, of course, the reference-only books, putting you on the spot to scour for what you needed then and there, and then coughing up some change for photocopies.

 

I mention all of this to say that, at the time, we went to great lengths for the information we needed because, frankly, there was no other way to access it. Now, as a person who not only writes my own stories, but oversees the creation of an entire newspaper week after week full of information and answers to residents’ questions, I find it astonishing, frustrating and downright offensive how incompetent, feeble and lazy some people can be when they’re looking for information.

 

This is not directed at you, dear reader. If you’re holding the newspaper and reading this column, you are an engaged participant. If you take the time to read pages four and five, I know this about you. It goes out to the folks who interact with our website and social media feeds (not all, but some), especially since Mark Zuckerberg took a break from sucking Donald Trump’s toes and banned news links here.

 

We are one of the lucky ones to still have Facebook and Instagram pages that can be accessed by readers. We can’t post links, of course, but we post a picture and a blurb about a story in the week’s issue, directing people to either the newspaper or our website, where we publish a handful of our biggest weekly stories for free. Since the news ban, we don’t see a ton of comments on our posts, but, without fail, what we do see is people arguing about this or that connected to the story at hand or asking questions that would very easily be answered if they, oh, I don’t know, read the story.

 

People will type out a question in the comments on a Facebook post - sure they’re entitled to have their question answered by someone (who, they don’t know) - instead of seeking out the answer themselves. Going to our website to answer their questions is simply a bridge too far for these folks. And, frankly, more often than not, when people ask questions under Facebook posts, Googling that question would provide an answer.

 

We’ve never had access to more information and never before with such ease and yet that ease has perhaps made us lazy, relying on our internet slaves at our beck and call. As I tell my kids, try something on your own once or twice before asking for help. You never know when you might just surprise yourself.