Seek and ye shall find just about any type of consumer goods online at eBay, Amazon.com, Craigslist.com and more.

Online comparison shopping saves time, not to mention a trip to the local Barnes & Noble. But is it good for the soul?

"It's tragic," said Carl Honore, author of "In Praise of Slowness," a worldwide best seller that has been translated into more than 30 languages.

"I think what we're losing -- going to a 'search-and-find' from a 'browse-and-discover' culture -- is life in a different gear. Browsing creates a much richer, [more] nuanced, textured way of life."

True browsing is akin to window shopping. It's not about racing from store to store looking for the best price on that high-def television, but instead about heading to an electronics store just to check out all the cool stuff.

The recent announcement that Barnes & Noble will close its popular Squirrel Hill location at the end of the year was met with dismay by anyone who's ducked in for 15 minutes before a movie, or after dessert at Gullifty's restaurant across Murray Avenue.

"We have replaced leisure time with consumer time, we've subverted it," said Roger Mannell, a psychologist and a professor in the recreation and leisure studies department at Ontario's University of Waterloo.

The brain needs down time, he said, and browsing opens up creative possibilities. It's not unusual to find customers at Blockbuster video stores who have rental accounts online, but simply enjoy the idea of wandering through the stacks to see if something catches their fancy.

Studies have shown there are differences in the general way men and women shop; the latter are much more likely to browse.

"We [men] expect it to be a surgical strike. You identify your target and go buy it," said Mr. Honore, who lives in London and also has written a book on "slow" parenting.

Which, he said, does not mean men don't enjoy browsing. Nor does it mean that a fast-paced life is necessarily a bad one.

"It's not about saying 'no' to Facebook, but striking a balance," he said. "We are kind of marinating in a state of fast culture when we ratchet everything up into roadrunner mode."

"I think everyone is in too much of a hurry; they just don't 'have the time,' " said Pittsburgh's Harriet Kistler, who was shopping at the Bethel Park Borders book store last week.

Miss Kistler said she had a couple of discount coupons, which led to her browsing the stacks at Borders. But she had no specific titles in mind, a luxury that allowed her to let the eye wander.

Browsing, she said, means "go look, see what the new trends are, find something you just have to have, something that strikes your fancy."

There are differences between generations as well; high-school students are more likely to click-browse and shop online than those over 30, who grew up practicing more traditional methods of shopping.

Miss Kistler, who is in the latter camp, said she has observed such differences, adding, "I think it's probably an indication of present-day society that the younger generation doesn't really socialize anymore. Everything is instant messaging and iPods. They all have to be connected, but it isn't face-to-face."

Studies support this.

"Among adolescents, we found much less [traditional] browsing behavior," Dr. Mannell said.

"I definitely think there's a generational difference," said Kirk Marker, 55, of Cecil, while recently making his weekly visit to the Blockbuster video store in Bethel Park.

"There's a difference in how [younger people] approach things, and that's how they're brought up in schools today: 'You can do everything on the computer,' " he said.

That, he added, is a shame.

"I think looking online takes too much of the tactile part of shopping out of it," he said. "I can go into the store, pick up the box, flip it over ... you can't do that online."

It is that "Eureka!" moment that turns an afternoon of browsing into something even richer.

"What you gain when you browse, in that traditional sense, you open up a space for serendipity, things you won't find otherwise," Mr. Honore said.

"It takes you in different directions, allows you to come across new things."

There are few better places to browse than a flea market, where "one man's junk is another man's treasure," said Mark Blakewood, executive director of the Florida-based National Flea Market Association, which counts 2,500 active markets in the United States.

"You never know what you're going to find."

Mr. Blakewood would know. As a college student, he stopped by a market and picked through old and junky golf equipment. A club caught his eye, and he paid 50 cents for it.

Showing the club to his coach, he discovered it was a rare Wilson R-90 dot punch sand wedge, worth at least $1,000.

"Well, that got me hooked," he said.

Steve Yonosik, of Cecil, sells model trains and related items. He sees many of the same weekend regulars at his booth at Trader Jack's in Collier, one of the area's largest flea markets.

"A lot of people say they saw this on the Internet or that on the Internet, but my prices are better. Not only that, but I think they like buying [at the flea market] because they can play with it, touch it, feel it," Mr. Yonosik said.

Browsing is good in terms of personal relaxation, but it may have a downside if it's all browse and no buy.

George Loewenstein, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who's an expert on the psychology of economics and consumer decision-making, believes "there is reason to panic" over the loss of community-centered businesses such as Barnes & Noble. Among the great appeals of Pittsburgh, he said, are its many great browsing areas of Walnut Street in Shadyside, Murray and Forbes avenues in Shadyside and Carson Street on the South Side.

But just looking and not buying can hurt the economy, he said.

"I would guess that many, many of the people who lament these developments [of store closings], including myself, have very much contributed to them," he said. "How many of us browse at Barnes & Noble and then go home and buy the books on Amazon?

"We all benefit collectively from a place like Barnes & Noble, but on an individual level, we figure we're a drop in the bucket and that one person going to Amazon instead of Barnes & Noble is not going to make a difference," he said. "Each of us, when you multiply by hundreds and thousands and millions, it adds up to an overall picture that none of us would have expected."

Browsing might be fun, but it's only human to want to save a few bucks. Christopher Zivkovic, 29, of Mt. Lebanon, said he does exactly that.

"I'll go to the bookstore to window-shop and find the book I want. But I can buy it for $10 cheaper online."

Still, he appreciates the immediacy of finding videos at Blockbuster. While browsing the DVDs at the Bethel Park store, he carried a handful of mailers containing discs he had rented online from the company.

"I come in here once a week, maybe. I belong to the online thing, so when I get these and watch them, I bring them back right away.

"People ask me 'Why don't you do Netflix [an online-only rental service]?' and I have, in the past. But I feel I get more added value in this: as soon as I watch them, I can come back and get something else immediately."

Holding a copy of "The Merry Gentleman," a film directed by and starring Pittsburgher Michael Keaton, he said he had no idea what it was about.

But he was probably going to take it home and give it a chance, he said.

Mr. Honore would encourage this decision.

"One of the joys of browsing is, you don't know what you're going to find," he said. "It's about letting things happen, rather than jumping in and forcing them."

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