«I JUST READ EVERYTHING»

A century from now, historians will probably write (assuming we can still read by then) about the factors that led to the decline of our civilization. There will be numerous indicators of major problems: a third of their children didn't graduate from high school! They watched television for 4.5 hours a day! They quibbled over whether their president could safely address schoolchildren!On the list of signals of imminent decline, there will be a special place on the list for OMGICU, TMZ, and their ilk. What could be more vapid than browsing and tweeting each other about the daily lives of the Tila Tequilas (I don't really know who she is either) of the world? What better bespeaks societal breakdown than our apparently endless fascination with the rich and famous? It's bad for the celebrities and bad for the rest of us.There is hope, however. The New York Times reports that celebrity magazines are declining dramatically in circulation. Let's hope that their readers aren't simply migrating online.

-Harvard Business
Sept 10 2009