Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Paul Brooks: Don't get caught in internet's truth web

By Paul Brooks
Northern Advocate·
4 Nov, 2016 01:30 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Ask Google. Consult the internet.

The World Wide Web has become the answer to all of life's pressing problems.

Need to know something? Click a mouse, type in something until predictive text takes over, find the answer you want.

Whether it is called anthropomorphism or personification - I can't decide - we have ascribed genderless human characteristics to a vast, multi-faceted entity we have named the internet.

"It" has become the go-to point for all the things that encyclopedias and reference books once provided. And of course, it is the absolute truth.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Somewhere, out there, lies the meaning of life in all its digital glory.

By giving the internet a personality of its own, we are avoiding the one essential truth - the web is a fiction.

It is a giant work of imagination with contributors that number in their tens of millions.
People all over the world are posting articles, stories, arguments, comments, photographs and videos at a rate of millions a day.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Alongside them are the websites for businesses, companies and services appearing in equal numbers.

Advertising, fiction, opinions and assorted truths lie alongside each other, often intertwined and inseparable, accessible with a word through a multitude of search engines, and none categorised or defined by its relationship with reality.

That's what the internet is - a diverse collection of anything provided by people with equally diverse motives.

The internet has become hard work for the digital consumer.

It has become our job to separate fact from fiction, urban myth from news item, curiosity from observation.

"I saw it on the internet" now means, "I have no way of ensuring its veracity, but you may find this entertaining if nothing else".

We have taken on this massive burden of mass-produced legends and we no longer care if it is true - but it's a giggle.

You can find anything, prove anything, say anything.

Truth has a whole new meaning.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate

Government announces plan to improve after hours healthcare services for Northlanders

18 May 02:44 AM
Northern Advocate

Luxon announces $164m for new 24/7 urgent care services

18 May 01:22 AM
Northern Advocate

Severe weather warnings: 120km/h gales, thunderstorms possible

17 May 11:18 PM

The Hire A Hubby hero turning handyman stereotypes on their head

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

Government announces plan to improve after hours healthcare services for Northlanders

Government announces plan to improve after hours healthcare services for Northlanders

18 May 02:44 AM

The announcement comes after recent concerns around a lack of doctors at Kāitāia Hospital.

Luxon announces $164m for new 24/7 urgent care services

Luxon announces $164m for new 24/7 urgent care services

18 May 01:22 AM
Severe weather warnings: 120km/h gales, thunderstorms possible

Severe weather warnings: 120km/h gales, thunderstorms possible

17 May 11:18 PM
'Top dollar for no services': Residents decry council neglect

'Top dollar for no services': Residents decry council neglect

17 May 04:00 AM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP