Paper on Information Overload

March 17th, 2007

Library Boy links to a study on information overload.  I downloaded the paper and put it, ironically, on my "to do" list. 

So far, the title, "Information Overload: We Have Met the Enemy and he is Us" is intriguing, because I believe this to be true.  I still believe that IO doesn’t exist because we have full control over what information we look at.  I’ll read the article this weekend and see if that’s what it says. 

One Comment on “Paper on Information Overload”

1. Bob Berkman Says:
   March 19th, 2007 at 3:10 pm

   Steven,

   I kind of take a middle ground when it comes to the concept of “believing in” information overload. I believe it exists–but it exists like any other “perception” just as worry, anxiety, depression and happiness are real–but subjective.

   So to the person experiencing information overload (that’s 99% of us) it is real.

   If we define IO in psychological terms, then we can look at psychological “solutions”, which I think are more elegant than productivity type solutions. I kind of like the cognitive-behavioral models that tell us to watch what we are telling ourselves, as what we say to ourselves internally largely shapes our feelings.

   EG thoughts like:
   I will NEVER get to all this information;
   This is an IMPOSSIBLE task;
   I’m BURIED with so much work I’ll FAIL

   vs.thoughts like
   It’s okay if I can’t get to it all
   There will always be new information I won’t be able to read, and that’s the way it is…

   ETC…

   That’s my take on it….