I love zombie movies. There is something that has always excited me about the danger of an oncoming zombie apocalypse. How would I react and is it possible to be prepared? How can you stop the single minded, autopilot zombie when it approaches you?

During my train of zombie thought I realized that in a way I have become a zombie myself. Not the brain eating, shuffling kind, but the brain-numb digital kind. I whole-heartedly admit that I surf the web almost continuously. Whether I am at work, on my laptop at home or my iPhone, I am hardly ever disconnected for more than 30 minutes at a time. As a person with an insatiable thirst for knowledge I am always reading. The problem is that I often find myself just looking at drivel.

I frequent numerous, news, industry and entertainment sites looking for content. However, when there is not a specific topic I am looking for I tend to digitally graze. This can bring about some interesting topics and tidbits of knowledge but more often than not I waste an hour or more of my life and truly get nothing out of it. Imagine reading a book while thinking about numerous tasks you need to accomplish at home and at work. You simply won’t retain any of the information you consume. While you may have a general emotional sensation regarding the contents of the book the actual meat will be left on the pages.

With the continued proliferation of new online content providers and aggregators and the new devices being sold to enhance our consumption of them, at what point do we just become brain-numb digital zombies? If we really aren’t paying attention while we surf, no ad or marketing message will get through to us. Have we already hit the apocalypse and just not noticed it?