# Have We Lost the Art of Browsing?

**URL:** <https://forums.crosswalk.com/t/have-we-lost-the-art-of-browsing/20543>\
**Category:** Current Events\
**Created:** [September 18, 2026, 4:43pm UTC](https://forums.crosswalk.com/t/have-we-lost-the-art-of-browsing/20543 "2026-09-18T16:43:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ellenvera](https://forums.crosswalk.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/ccd318/32.png) [@ellenvera](https://forums.crosswalk.com/u/ellenvera)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 4:43pm UTC](https://forums.crosswalk.com/t/have-we-lost-the-art-of-browsing/20543/1 "2026-09-18T16:43:14Z")

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Before we could search for exactly what we wanted online, we often discovered things by accident—wandering through a bookstore, flipping through a magazine, browsing the shelves at a library, or walking through stores without knowing exactly what we were looking for.

Online searching is certainly faster, but do you think we’ve lost something by becoming so good at going directly to what we already know we want?

When was the last time you discovered something wonderful simply because you weren’t looking for it?

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**Author:** ![Oakback](https://forums.crosswalk.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/o/dbc845/32.png) [@Oakback](https://forums.crosswalk.com/u/Oakback)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 1:23am UTC](https://forums.crosswalk.com/t/have-we-lost-the-art-of-browsing/20543/2 "2026-09-19T01:23:38Z")

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I think that’s an excellent observation.

The better the algorithms, the greater the illusion we are " browsing ".