Reason #1: Intelligent cultural analysis becomes readily accessible. Conversation develops. See, for example, the Alice follow-up post on k-punk.
Reason #2: The development of blogging into a viable profession. Writers making money by writing. Pretty sure that's a good thing. Lately I've been laughing out loud at Hyperbole and a Half.
Reason #3: Dance video. Recorded dance has not really had a place in more centralized media, but now I can watch it all: ballet, hip hop (I have the top-rate comment on the linked video - I'm more proud of that than I should be), lindy hop, swing, etc.
Reason #4: The proliferation of the utterly ridiculous. I don't know where to start with this. Series of links, perhaps? The inspired Selleck Waterfall Sandwich, or the viral South African rap that is Die Antwoord, or Lesbians Who Look Like Justin Bieber, or (and I really don't know what to make of this) Moongina. Human beings are a mysterious bunch. I am in awe.
While there is much to applaud, I am also concerned about the sort of person I am becoming. There is no other activity to which I am as committed as I am to regular Internet perusal. Browsing as spiritual discipline, but what kind of spirit exactly? K-punk's article above closes with a comment on the "new boredom" which, paradoxically, involves a thin fascination: "a kind of dissolute impulse to flick and click that is boring even as it weakly grips us..." Who doesn't read that and feel personally implicated? Sheesh.
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