Dealing with information overload
In 2011, it was discovered that people consume 5 times more information than they did in 1986, which has the equivalency of 174 whole newspapers a day. It sounds like an absurd amount but just think - 72 hours of YouTube video are uploaded, 350,000 tweets are tweeted, and 49,000 Instagram posts are submitted every single minute. Coupled with many individuals being equipped with smartphones, data plans, and social media apps, it begins to be clear how we can consume so much.
Information overload is a term used to describe the phenomenon of there being so much information that one has difficulty making decisions. The human brain can only process so much information, and when faced with the incredible amounts of consumption occurring each and every day, our decision-making capacity is reduced (Speier, Valacich & Vessey 1999).
Clary Shirky notes in this quote that the core problem isn’t the intense amount of information in our lives, but the way in which we fail to filter out the information that isn’t applicable to us. Think of an apple farm where you harvest every fruit you can get your hands on - rotten and unripe ones are all picked indiscriminately. As a farmer, you would want a means of filtering out the bad apples from the good ones in the pursuit of productivity and efficiency.
Thus, what are some ways we can selectively harvest relevant information amidst all of the noise? How do you alleviate information overload?
Different techniques and methods marry together to create a filter for everything to fall through. The results lead to better decision making, increased certainty in the day to day intake of material and thinking, and more mental energy for everything else in your life.
When it is easier to sort through everything, you can find yourself resting a bit easier.
Check out the following posts on how to do just that:
Curating your information
How to have a healthy info-diet
Asay, Matt (13 January 2009). "Shirky: Problem is Filter Failure, Not Info Overload".
Speier, C.; Valacich, J.S., & Vessey, I. (1999). "The Influence of Task Interruption on Individual Decision Making: An Information Overload Perspective". Decision Sciences. 30 (2): 337–360.
