OK, so it’s only Thursday. I’m early for a change.
This Friday Five is brought to you by the spirit of Chauncey Gardiner. Some of you youngsters have probably never heard of him. He was a character played by Peter Sellers in the movie Being There, and he liked to watch television. A lot.
Chauncey would have loved YouTube. Apparently, we all love YouTube. In the past year along, according to a Wall Street Journal article, we’ve spent 9.305 years watching YouTube videos. Wired‘s Monkey Bites blog calculates how many years have been wasted watching the following five YouTube posts:
14.26 years watching geriatric1927.
14.75 years watching lonelygirl15.
17.71 years watching “Real Life Simpsons Intro.”
93.31 years watching funtwo shred on the guitar.
378.99 years watching Evolution of Dance, YouTube’s most-viewed video.
Lest you think YouTube holds no educational value whatsoever, some educators are finding ways to use YouTube in the classroom. Hat tip to connect.educause.edu.
And if you’re of a certain age, a bit on the nerdy side, do not work in a cubicle and the boss is out of the office today, you have my permission to crank up the speakers and enjoy one of my guilty YouTube pleasures.
Andrew Careaga 