Having just watched yet another magic trick revealed on a You Tube video made me wonder if the internet is a positive or a negative overall for the world of magic.

I know the internet offers many benefits for magicians. I only recently discovered the Café and already have gained many new insights in general about magic, as well as having several of my own questions posted and answered. Also, since the nearest brick and morter magic shop to me is a couple of hundred miles away or more, well shopping on the internet can't be beat for convenience and practicality in my case.

This being said, I wonder if magic was perhaps more "special" or more "elite" when it was less accessible to the masses? It is not only the exposures online that makes me wonder about this, but rather how years ago if you wanted to learn the magical arts you had to pay your dues by studying a relatively obscure book (not something you found at a public library, etc.) or even perhaps serve an apprenticeship to a master magician who would pass down the secrets to you. Maybe it is just the romantic in me, but those days seem like they kept the magic much more close-knit and the secrets stayed secrets for the most part.

I am in no way saying I want to go back to my pre-internet life, online banking alone has spoiled me these days, lol, but just was pondering these thoughts instead of going magic shopping online this morning once again. (I am trying to be good and save that for this evening.)

Does anyone have any thoughts on this topic?

P.S. I hope this isn't something that has been discussed over and over already.

The Café quicksearch function works well.

Keywords: internet exposure YouTube

Yes and there is a magic and internet forum too. But since ur here, it is like the internet in general. There are a lot of good things about it, quick communiction, access to a lot of information, inexpensive to use. Fairly easy to use. But there is a lot of bad, spam, con artists, sites with less than accurate information, exposures, basically any idiot with a computer can put up just about anything on the net, regardless of morals, legality (internet is international and you can always find some country to be hosted in that what ever you want to do or say isn't against the law). So magic's good and bad on the net is just a reflection of the fact that the net in itself has the same properties. Microcosm of Macrocosm

I can't help but wonder if the same observation/complaint was made once books were published about magic and made available in the public library.