Curiouser and Curiouser
~ Down the Internet Rabbit Hole We Go ~
Is there anyone who hasn’t read Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?” Probably not too many of us.
Or perhaps you’ve seen one of the movie versions.
Have you been down the Internet rabbit hole? My bet is you have…on many occasions, like me. I know when it’s happening but sometimes it’s hard to stop it from occurring, despite my best intentions. Do you find that, too, sometimes?!
The Internet, confound it, offers us plentiful opportunities to venture down the rabbit hole, for hours if we aren’t careful...taking us away from other business or personal stuff we intended, or needed, to do. That simple client question, for example, can become something much more. Oh, what we can find down that rabbit hole!
And it seems to happen all too easily if we aren’t watchful and maintain control.
You know what I mean…admit it!
You start to do some research, or even get on your MLS for a quick home search, and before you know it one website leads to another link, that leads to another question and website, and another link, and another website, and then a video, and...
Before you know it human curiosity has taken over, and 30 minutes later, or worse, you realize you have ventured far afield from where you thought you were going. Or had planned to. And all because of the Internet.
It’s both a curse and an asset.
No question the Internet is an amazing place for research and learning. Granted, some of what’s out there is suspect, or contradictory, or downright untruthful. But there’s no doubt we all search on Google (or pick your search engine of choice) frequently for all manner of things.
How often does a day pass without you touching the Internet at least once? Very few I bet.
It’s not just in our real estate business lives but on the personal side of things, too. The allure of the Internet is always there, at our fingertips on our phones, beckoning us to just enter a keyword or phrase and then click…or use Siri, or our voices to do the searching for us.
Perhaps it’s the ease of access that makes it hard to resist. After all, a quick question won’t take long, right?!
But along comes the White Rabbit and before you know it down that hole you go, without even thinking about it, just like Alice did.
No doubt some people are better at resisting diving down that rabbit hole than others. Or escaping before getting sucked in too far and losing sight of the original reason for getting on the Internet in the first place. And realizing how much time has actually passed.
There’s no question the Internet can be a huge time suck if we’re not careful. The wealth of information that’s available, the unknowns that lie ahead with just a simple click, and our innate curiosity can lead us to spend more time in the Internet world than we ever intended.
That may or may not be a good thing, depending on your perspective, what you discover down the hole, and the time invested.
OUR REAL ESTATE WEBSITES
Consider our real estate websites, for example. Isn’t part of the intent to capture someone’s eye, lure them in, and keep them there for a while as they click away happily, learning as they go. Checking out our listings, looking at videos, reading about our services and success stories, touring our communities, spending time on our IDX, and more. A rabbit hole hopefully worth visiting and one specifically designed to keep someone there for a while.
I have no guilt about that, do you?
OUR BLOGGING
A well-done blog post can lure someone down a rabbit hole as well, can’t it? Internal links opening new windows to hopefully keep readers from leaving our blog. A link to our real estate website. Internal links to other relevant posts we’ve written.
We create a rabbit hole of sorts by generating enough interest so the reader clicks to read more about what we have to say about real estate, our communities and related issues.
SOCIAL MEDIA
And who hasn’t popped down the social media rabbit hole multiple times – Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest – with the intent of having “just a quick look” at what our friends are doing and saying, or reading our notifications. You know exactly what I mean. The reality of time passing, and our awareness of it, are often at odds while in the Rabbit Hole. It’s an alternate universe of sorts there, where time gets distorted.
WHAT WE’VE GAINED AND LOST
With the Internet we have gained a truly amazing resource and communication vehicle we can hold in our hands. It enables us to conduct our real estate business and to communicate in ways never imagined years ago – there are both pros and cons to this.
Perhaps what we have lost, or can lose, is a sense of control if we don’t watch carefully, and focus on our use of time. Rabbit holes beckon us constantly, and an occasional dive down one is not necessarily bad. But it’s important to keep control of our time and avoid distractions, in business and our personal lives. Time is precious, and too much of it spent in rabbit holes isn't productive.
This is an entry in the January 2022 Challenge hosted by Gary Frimann and Kathleen Daniels.
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