In a world of Inforuption, love is a killer app
April 25th, 2004Take a look at this interview with Tim Sanders, entitled, “Do you suffer from new economy depression syndrome?”. First, the term ‘Inforuption’ is awesome, one which I will be using in my future talks on Keeping Current. That term can be paralleled to another term, NEDS:
“NEDS is an acronym for new economy depression syndrome. It’s a mental state that a result of a combination of information overload and frequent interruption resulting in and erosion of personal close relationships. The symptoms are anxiety, fatigue, stress and lower productivity and irritability in a team environment.”
Another quote:
“What we’ve noticed is that the survey respondents have strong personal relationships at work in homes suffer less symptoms despite being attacked by the same amount of information. The number one solution is resiliency through warm living. That means a certain amount of face-to-face contact, phone contact on long-term e-mail relationships and living in the warm channels, contributing warm thoughts and ideas. Those create shock absorbers that can help you deal with this information.”
I learned this quickly after my panic issues in March, and Walt Crawford and Karen Schneider have mentioned similar concepts on occasion. They talk about taking breaks from technology, getting away from the monitor, and spending time with family and friends. Agreed. Also, I would like to add that taking time for oneself if also very important. I’ve found that since joining a gym and working out 3-4 times a week has not only decreased my stress level, but I am interacting with others in a different environment than at work, and it has, ironically, enhanced my work on this weblog. On the days that I work-out, I write more. It must be a brain-chemistry thing, although I have no scientific evidence to back it up.
But the non-techie interactions that Sanders talks about is important. If you feel any sort of NEDS-like symptoms, as I have on numerous occasions, turn off that IM account for a day or two; don’t send e-mails to the guy sitting 15 feet away; get out of the physical environment that you currently find yourself in; go to lunch with a colleague or friend and DON’T talk about work stuff; interact with others in a social context (in addition to joining a gym, I have been on a softball team for the past few years); get another hobby aside from what is causing your stress level to increase.
I find it amazing that this type of living can cut down on information overload…One more point, related to yet another quote:
“If you and I went back and forth twice with email - that it! I’m right to call you rather than e-mail reply. That’s a habit. I think you have to be conscious about it. That’s why there’s a motto across my cubicle that says “In a world of Inforuption, love is a killer app”.
I have had the fortune to have met a colleague (a big techie) at last years CIL conference. We have made it a habit (or tried to) to touch bas via phone at least twice a month, just to see how each other is doing. Sometimes we talk about library work, but other times we talk about family, friends, and life. I love it, and look forward to speaking with him whenever we can. It’s hard for us (we both lead busy lives), but those phone conversations are healthy, and we both know it. One last example. When I was going through my rough spot last month, I received many encouraging e-mails, but one that really blew me away was from another colleague. I actually called her to thank her for her message, and we spoke for about 30 minutes. Much better (and more personal) than any IM or e-mail conversation could ever be.