Lolcows

A weird online web of hot-messery and it's role within the attention economy

We all do it. Its’ your morning commute on your way into the office and a traffic jam delays your arrival significantly, ensuring your tardiness. As you approach the source of the bottleneck, you can see the emergency vehicles flashing lights, and the temporary hazard flares and wayfinding signage that redirect the flow of traffice safely out of the way of risking more danger while they report the incident. You know you ought to pay attention- focus on the cars ahead of you and the flow of traffic. But you look. You assess the damage, searching for a visual representation of the parties’ errors that led to this scene and the cause of your failed punctuality, a tale to bring with you as evidence- or warning. Maybe you’re like me, and you’re insatiable curiosity and obsession with a good tea spilling sesh and you’re gonna look up all the nitty-gritty details of what is reported on your’ states DOT road-condition tracking website. Either way, there’s no denying people have a morbid curio…