Information overload, a 21st Century problem!
“Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant” (Mitchell Kapor). There is a plethora of information out there and it’s a task to scrutinize which piece of information best suits our needs. As soon as you hit the search button there is a volley of data shot within 0.7 seconds, all ready to engulf you! And even before you realise you have already digressed into the labyrinth.
The more one plunges into research, the more they get into the rabbit hole! It’s like this incessant loop which stops only after you have felt claustrophobic enough to shut down. Amidst the cacophony, you end up losing your focus and ultimately waste resources over matters too trivial to be considered. Information overload analytically paralyzes the workflow.
One hack to deal with this strain is going on an ‘information diet’. Just as we restrict ourselves from junk food, we should set parameters for our researches as well. Filter the information callously. Distance yourself from using too much internet and resort to brainstorming. Do not get carried away by the interruptions rushing towards us in countless formats. Lastly, skimming through the content quickens the process, just like exercise and diet go hand in hand!
Information overload can easily be misconstrued as productive learning. People feel that there is no harm in researching around the periphery of the main topic as that would add to their horizon of knowledge. But, there is a fine gap between collecting information and hoarding the same. A survey says that if we don’t use the information immediately, there are chances that 75% of it evaporates from our memory and the information is forgotten by the time we need it. We tend to remember only those bits that we feel genuinely relate to us, which in most case is the information that we actually are looking for. Moreover, information surfeit robs us of our creativity. There is already too much on the plate for anything new. The same ideas are ruminated over again with slight differences in presentation. With such availability, plagiarism is bound to happen. And then at some point, we become so used to the internet bolstering us, that in the absence of the same we find it difficult to function. Thus, stereotype-breaking ideas receive prodigious appreciation.
Another matter of concern is authenticity. There is a lot of information scrap all over the place and everything is wrapped in a way to make it seem useful. I feel a combination of wit and trial and error can only help us handpick the unimpeachable content. Nowadays smart marketing tactics are on the spree, wherein browsing patterns are analyzed and using this information products are projected in a lucrative manner. Books, on the other hand, I feel, feed us right. You have to work for the information and when you work, you digest well! Ain’t it better to go old school sometimes?
The internet is yours and so is its command. Watch out for the quagmire and don’t let the virtual superfluidity daunt you. Be a smart information consumer, is all I say!
