The Need for Speed

It’s Monday morning and I find a news story about a news story.  The news of Whitney Houston’s death was on Twitter 27 minutes before the mainstream media broke the story.  A whole 27 minutes!  That’s unbelievable!  How could people be kept waiting so long?  Shouldn’t there be some kind of law to prevent such unconscionable delays in communicating these life-changing events?

Of course I’m being sarcastic.  It is rather amazing that Twitter has such a web of interconnections.  The article goes on to cite statistics about the number of tweets and retweets, suggesting that Twitter may become the new source of breaking news.  (The power of the social media is the power we give it.)

My question is:  What’s the hurry?  Why the urgency?  It’s too bad Whitney Houston died.  It’s too bad she had all those personal problems.  She was a great entertainer, admired by many.  But what’s the big deal about finding out 27 minutes sooner?

First, we have been conditioned to expect “breaking news” as soon as it happens – even news that does not affect us directly.  Television and the Internet compete for our attention, and the way to get it seems to be to promise instant gratification for our news craving.  Details can be filled in later, but the important thing, we are told, is to find out about it now.  As implied by a series of recent smartphone ads, if you are the last to know, you are considered some kind of loser.  It’s cool to be able to respond that you already got the word.

Another part of the problem is that people place too much importance on the roles of entertainers.  They spend so much time, money and emotional energy following the output of their favorite performer, group or team that they consider them close friends.  Stars can’t go out in public without people hassling them for autographs or conversation.  Stars want privacy while fans demand their attention.

Our behavior, the importance we place both on celebrity and on instant news, is a symptom of a lack of perspective in our society that leads to problems elsewhere in our lives, poor decisions and misplaced priorities.

When my father died, my brother called to give me the news so that I could make travel arrangements to attend the funeral.  This news was important and personal to me, but if he had delayed the call for 27 minutes, it would have made no difference at all.