I can remember life before smart phones and apps and being able to access information in a matter of moments.
I can remember it.
But I certainly don’t prefer it.
I love being connected. I love being informed. And I love being able to find what I need quickly and without fuss – like any multi-tasking woman who juggles work and family and friends, with a day planner bursting at the seams full of notes and lists and appointments.
This year, I’ve read a lot of articles encouraging people to switch off. Unplug. Disconnect. There’s some valid points in doing so.
But it’s not for me.
I quite like sipping my long macchiato whilst I browse Twitter, pausing to take a phone call, before shooting off a quick email, before realising I’m desperately overdue for a haircut and booking an appointment STAT.
Australians are fast adaptors of new technologies and we consume information rapidly. We search and we browse and explore.
Yellow Pages have recently taken a look at the search habits of Australians – and they offer a fascinating insight into what we are really looking for online.
Unsurprisingly, Melburnians know just where to look for life’s essentials and little luxuries – we are, after all, the biggest coffee enthusiasts in the country. We’re also foodies – and we love hitting up the CBD for a meal, more than any suburb out there (really, can you blame us? With the best food, not to mention an incredible variety, it’s no wonder a trip into town is what we prefer).
People are hitting the City of Yarra to have their shoes repaired more than anywhere else in Victoria. And of course they are. I’ve never seen a woman in bad heels, boots, flats or otherwise within a five kilometre radius of Richmond. Ditto Bayside. Where, coincidentally, the most popular searches are all about the perfect bouffant. Well, maybe not bouffants. Good hair. Enviable hair.
I find the results fascinating. We all have ideas (and opinions) about various areas across Victoria. For instance, it comes as no surprise to me that the City of Casey – one filled with growing families – would be mostly searching for child care services and children’s playgrounds.
But I had no idea that Maribyrnong was so zen – beating any other areas in Victoria for searches relating to massage therapy. And Manningham is where people are heading to get their pearly whites in tip-top shape.
The thing I’ve realised in discovering this information is that what we search for matters. It says something about ourselves. And the communities we live in.
Information is more accessible, and far more open, than any other time in our history. There’s something exciting about that.
You know what else is exciting? Nillumbik is all about its pets.
BRB, just off to Eltham.
