Novelty Acts

This summer, for the first time in my life, I was the — recipient? beneficiary? some (not me!) would say victim — of a surprise birthday party.It was a delight through and through, but the thing I keep marveling at is how genuinely surprising it all was, from the guest list to the menu to the activities.

I knew ahead of time only the time and the place, and so was treated to the rare experience of nearly 24 hours of pure discovery.I arrived for the celebration full of anticipation but without expectation, an agenda-free participant in the unfolding of the day.It is so easy to research, plan and curate every millisecond that it almost seems irresponsible not to.

You can virtually tour a hotel room before you book it, try on a jacket before you buy it, discuss a parenting technique before you endeavor it.If it’s purchasable, rentable, consumable or conceivable, you can find a review of it.

I’m not complaining: The very fact that one can watch a video of a surgeon performing a procedure before scheduling a consultation is pretty incredible.I’m so accustomed to over-investigating everything I buy or book that I rarely stop to consider the toll.Remember not knowing? I barely do.

I was telling a Gen Z friend recently about finding my first apartment in New York City.“You used to line up to get the Village Voice rental listings when the paper came out on Tuesday nights,” I rhapsodized.

“Oh, and The Voice published photos of the places with the listings?” my friend asked.No, I told him, there was just text! And not much of it! You had to call to find out when you could go see the place! No way to send photos to anyone else for validation, no easy way to research the landlord or the neighborhood.

I felt like I was describing steering a ship by celestial navigation.But somehow, even without this information, I found a perfect, semi-affordable jewel box of a one-bedroom that I lived in happily for 15 years.It’s easy to sentimentalize minimal-informat...