Current statistics show the growth of the Apple App Store since its inception in 2008.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/263795/number-of-available-apps-in-the-apple-app-store/ |
https://www.statista.com/statistics/276623/number-of-apps-available-in-leading-app-stores/ |
http://www.internetlivestats.com/total-number-of-websites/ |
Part of the reason that I have continued writing this blog is that the available topics are infinite as far as my personal ability to write is concerned. True, I do have common themes that have developed over the years, but the number of new websites and the existence of valuable genealogical websites just keeps growing and growing.
As genealogists, we are still people. For example, there are hundreds of restaurants where I live in Provo, Utah. But my wife and I have probably only been to less than ten. We just do not go out to eat very often, particularly when we are close to home. Likewise, even though there are millions of apps and millions of places to look for genealogical data online, I use the same familiar apps and familiar research sites all the time.
Right now, I have 120 apps on my iPhone. Of those 120 apps, I use about 44. The rest are like books on the shelf that I never get around to reading. Every so often, I deleted all the apps that I haven't used for awhile.
What is the point? We live in a world of genealogical abundance that is so enormous to be beyond comprehension. Notwithstanding this wealth of information, we use only a small fraction of the available number of websites and conclude that we have "looked everywhere" for information about our ancestors. Hmm. Everywhere? Of course, a huge percentage of the websites fall into categories that I am never, ever going to look at or even try to look at. But that leaves what? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Additional websites that likely have valuable information about my ancestors.
Rather than be discouraged about these numbers, we should be happy that we have such unlimited resources. I find new, helpful websites regularly. I find more information about my research nearly every time I look. Life is good. This is the best time possible to be doing genealogy. So far.
No comments:
Post a Comment