Curious, I signed in to look at my search history. Before I was a writer my drive for knowledge leads me to look up some pretty interesting things. Now that I’m writing an apocalyptic book about a disease overtaking Baltimore, my searches are getting more interesting. These are all within the last week.
- What is considered bad omens
- Baltimore Aquarium
- What does a rat smell like
- What do you call a pack of rats
- The scientific name for spiders
- Bee bee gun
- Commonly owned guns
- What color is blood when it’s old
- Zombie art
- How long can you go without food or water
Then there was the time I almost looked up how to build a bomb and immediately thought that would be a horrible idea. So instead I looked up, nicknames for bombs and found what I needed. My personal life has interesting hunts for knowledge, but it’s usually around gardening, household projects, things to do with the kids and recipes. Seems like a regular suburban search history to me.
In the past searching for information leads me to more anxiety. Example, I had a lump on my throat and immediately thought the worst case scenario and of course, Google confirmed my worst fears. However, after going to the doctor, I found out there was nothing to worry about. Having knowledge readily at our fingertips can be a good thing, but it can also feed into unnecessary angst. WebMD is a good example of this. How many things could lead to death? I’m scared to look up a paper cut these days.
Over the years I’ve learned to take my online research as a possibility for good information, but not rely on it for fact if it involves something at a level higher than naming a new character or what to call a mischief of rats.
Melisa Peterson Lewis 