New Thing #68: Clicking The Link

For many years, if you sent me a link on the internet to check out, I'll be honest: I probably didn't check it out. I'm not really sure why.

If it was an article, I probably didn't think I had the time to read it.

If it was a video, I probably didn't think I had the time to watch it.

If it was a sound file, I probably didn't think I had the time to listen to it...or the appropriate plug-ins to play it.

OK. I guess I kind of know why.

But in 2013 I've made more of an effort to check out the links.

I've started to change my mindset from "I don't have the time" to "If they had the time to watch it, and thought enough to send it to me, then I have the time to watch it." (Of course there are levels of this: If you're the type to post any link you come across, I kind of see it like the boy who cried wolf, and I'm not going to click.)

As a result, I've seen a lot of the popular videos that everyone likes to talk about.

Like the goats that scream like humans.

And the celebrities that sing with screaming goats.

And the game-winning steal and three-quarter-court game-winning shot.

Or the half-court cheerleader flip shot.

In the past I might have ignored a tweet from Jad Abumrad (from Radiolab) that said "Oh my god this footage of a Cheetah in slo mo will make you weep," but this week I clicked on the link, despite the inevitable nightmares that will probably result. (It did not make me weep but it is tremendously impressive. Jump to the end if you get tired of watching the cheetahs [they're almost kangaroo-like! I didn't get tired of it!] and see how they filmed it.)

I even devoted the necessary 7 minutes to the Mila Kunis interview that everyone says reveals how charming she is. And I was charmed. (But I'm not buying that the interviewer didn't know exactly what he was doing.)

I think you get the picture.

Although maybe you don't. Because I don't know that in a post like this, with multiple links, that I would click on all of those links.

But it's baby steps for me. I'm getting better at clicking.

And I guess I should note this: I don't click on everything.

If something reaches annoying levels of popularity and gets posted way too much, I won't click on it just out of spite.

And that's why I still have no idea what the Harlem Shake is.