Too much information

Sir, – A quick Google search of “breakfast near me” brought up the rather enthusiastic response of “About 1,480,000,000 results (0.61 seconds)”, which prompted a few thoughts.

The first was that by the time I checked the first million results I would have long ago starved to death.

The likelihood is that there would be a few more useful results before the billionth result was checked but I’ll never get there.

Another thought was how much information we get that is unfiltered and mostly unnecessary.

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I think most people probably filter out virtually everything unless they ask very precise questions; where can I find a cheap cafe that serves a pancakes-and-eggs breakfast with good parking facilities and that takes less than 10 minutes to drive to?

Information used to be valued. A trip to the local library took time and effort to find an answer to that annoying question and it rarely involved typing.

Now an answer can be found in 0.61 seconds.

A less flippant analysis of these results should be considered when the answer is zero. There are too many people that have no choice and sadly no food.

There are actually about 20 or 30 breakfast venues within my earlier constraints, a choice I appreciate and wish that everyone else had the same choices. – Yours, etc,

DENNIS

FITZGERALD,

Melbourne,

Australia.