OK, I know how trite the subject line might be but come on!  Weren’t you just flabbergasted at the news of Kardashian’s filing for irreconcilable differences?  This woman, an ode to pure vanity itself, lasted no more than 72 days in her fidelity to Kris Humphries. And there goes the sanctity of marriage, down the proverbial sh-t hole!

So what am I so worked up about this?  Why do I care?  Why should you care?  And why did you so eagerly feast your eyes on the news of this marital denouement? The answer is, you shouldn’t care. None of you reading this know Kim Kardashian and if you even spent a shred of your life paying attention to her TV show, or her tweets, her life has absolutely zero connection to your own.

But the predominance of infotainment as part of today’s news cycle has accelerated to such a degree, that it’s almost next to impossible not to come across news stories about celebrities you typically could care less about. Whether you get your news from Yahoo, or a news website like Huffington Post, what happens to Kim Kardashian is news! Go visit news.google.com and see for yourself the more than two thousand news articles on her alone!

And the fact is, when I used to read the news, back in the 1980’s and 90’s, when newspapers were still a significant recourse for news, I never imagined that infotainment would continue to grow at such monumental proportions. I remember having this same discussion about TV news back in the 80’s as more airtime was being devoted to news that had an “entertainment” dimension to it. And let’s face it, if any TV news program is not sufficiently “entertaining,” it won’t be watched! Hence the proliferation of “talk news” TV and radio programs featuring the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Rachel Maddow, Bill O’Reilly, (to name but a few) all looking to capture the particular audience that reflects their viewpoints.

But I bring up the “news” of Kim Kardashian’s divorce because I find myself becoming embarrassingly curious about the ludicrous lives of these vapid characters. Each time I come across a story about a Hollywood celebrity that’s mentioned in a swath of news coverage, I find myself captivated by the content. It’s deeply troubling to me.  Whereas I never cared for Jennifer Aniston, her life, her movies, I now find myself intrigued by the next story I come across on her wedding rumours.

I would like to hear from the rest of you. Has the Internet in anyway affected your curiosity about celebrity news?  Do you find yourself paying attention to celebrities more so now than say, five or ten years ago?

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