Year 2000.. the first decade

As the first decade of the new millennium draws to a close, I'm left to wonder how the events, styles and perspectives of those who were a part of it will be identified by future generations.

Virtually every decade since the dawn of the 20th century has been somehow "labeled" for specific, unique traits that shaped and moulded the identity of those by-gone times. This sort of "signature" was evident in recent decades, such as the age of flower power in the 1960's, the days of disco in the 1970's, and the climax of image in the 1980's, where it seemed that "fitting in" to a particular way of life, style of dress and type of popular culture was paramount to the needs and desires of younger and middle-age generations.

100 experts agree! Don't you??

So, the unintelligent question for this posting is: what was the first decade of the 2000's all about? This article is my (somewhat uninformed) attempt to try to identify some of those unique traits. To sum up my perspective in a single phrase, I would characterize this period of time as follows:

It was the age of information.

What do I mean by this? In a nutshell, I mean to say that peoples' points of view and opinions were formed, in significant part, by the following needs:

- To feel "aware" and "informed"

Notice how the above statements use phrase "to feel" and not "to be". Let me illustrate my point further..

This past decade saw an unprecedented amount of information being made available to an unprecedented amount of people, through Internet, mobile browsing/reporting and 24-hour broadcast news television. I would argue that the emergence of these new and expanded streams of information provided many people with a sense of "power" to develop "informed" opinions and points of view that would have been previously unobtainable. This applied to virtually every area of knowledge in human kind.

So.. what's the catch?

The "catch", as I would put it, is that the desire for people to feel informed (in their opinions, decisions, etc..) outstripped the need to *be* informed in those areas. These new sources of information (some very biased) provided a surrogate way for people to feel that they had reasoned properly in making daily (and life) decisions, since they had "done their homework" and consulted external sources of information.

So.. what is information? It can be anything, and certainly does not have to be verifiable to be available. For example, the following "informative" web site explains to avid readers how investing in Florida real estate is simply a sound financial decision. And look, it's backed up by factual analysis, from experts!

6 REASONS for Investing in Florida Real Estate Investment Property NOW

I'm not saying that the information on this site is untrue, or even misleading. It simply provides a potential investor with "peace of mind" before making an investment decision, because they now feel "informed". As a result, some readers may shirk on their responsibility to reason through their own decision and their own evaluation of the facts.

That's my (very brief) take on what the past decade may be known for. All we need is a buzzword to remember it all by. Information Junkies??

Till next time.