We'll never be bored again

I'll be the first to admit that many a Web 2.0 applications have caused great joy in my life. Case in point: Flickr. I've been using Flickr to upload and share photos of my travels and mundane experiences with my friends and family across the country for the last few years. It's free for this sort of casual use and it keeps me up-to-date with other friends who use it without having to even e-mail them. For this, oh brilliant Web 2.0 minds, I am very thankful.

But -- and here's the Andy Rooney that each of us has inside (you know you do), "You ever wonder…." about all the things that aren't getting done as we slaves to new Web apps get excited with each new feature on TechCrunch and use up an hour or two of our day signing up, testing out, figuring out the latest online social network, blog widget, video sharing or wiki site to emerge? What is it that I neglected to do while I was answering comments on MySpace from people I haven't seen in 15 years and whom I've gained nothing by answering them? Who was I not having a face-to-face conversation with while I was checking my Twitter page?

After spending the afternoon at Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco this week, I found myself wondering who has time for all of this stuff. The possibilities are endless, but the hours of a single day are not. Thanks to the long tail of the Internet, there's room for a ton of social networking-type applications for niche audiences. And some Web 2.0 apps are definitely saving time and creating more creativity and collaboration (example: corporate wikis). But it's crazy to think that people will have or make time to fully engage in more than one or two. A recent Piper Jaffray study noted that as younger Web users spend more and more time consuming online media via sites like YouTube and Facebook, that cuts time out of other forms of media like television and magazines.

With that in mind, indulge now while you can before the next big thing comes along to take up more of your time. In real estate, I believe that would be spring home-buying season.

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