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The more, the worse – this could be the slogan of the information age. Associated Press found in a study last year that too much news can harm the human mind.
Participants in this study showed signs of news fatigue; that is, they appeared debilitated by information overload and unsatisfying news experiences . . . Ultimately news fatigue brought many of the participants to a learned helplessness response. The more overwhelmed or unsatisfied they were, the less effort they were willing to put in.
The pull information revolution is based on quantity, not quality, especially for Internet beginners. It takes some time and effort to learn how to manage that stack of websites, sources and RSS feeds and you feel tired before reaching that goal.
The beginning of the year is that time when you make resolutions, I am right? They say it’s bad for the psyche, but since we all do it, why not decide to wipe out some useless information we get every day in our mailbox, Netvibes accounts, blog readers, Twitter readers etc.?
Do you really read that newsletter you receive periodically? If not, search for the Unsubscribe link in the footer or just hit the Spam button in your e-mail client.
Do you really care about those jokes that person sends you every day, with a long sequence of FWs in the subject line? Just tell him or her to take you out of the list or, again, the Spam button is your friend.
Do you really read all that news in your RSS reader or just the 3 most interesting sources everytime? Well, you know what to do.
And, for god’s sake, do you really think you can keep up with all those users you follow on Twitter? Start wiping them out, begin with those whose statuses are constantly biological information like „I didn’t get any sleep last night” or „I have a headache”.
The information overload makes you stressed, worried, unsecure. Why not try to free yourself a little?
The effects on the long-term are obvious: you don’t read anymore, you write in very short paragrapghs, you don’t know any more what’s important and what’s not, your attention span narrows, you don’t sleep well, you don’t make plans etc.
There is one thing I noticed at the SJMCS students: they don’t know very well how to interpret gestures, ironies, diplomacy. Do they need smileys for the human to human communication?
There is also the big problem of neglecting human contact skills and losing the ability to read emotional expressions and body language, says a neuroscientist who went further with the studies in this field.
The lack of focus of the modern individual on the real important issues around him or her is the main idea of the chapter on information overload in the book Born Digital (listen to a podcasted interview with one of the co-authors, John Palfrey). The digital native is surrounded by gadgets that he knows everything about, but doesn’t have the time to reflect on issues, doesn’t interact with the family and friends like in the past and is turning back into an alien.
The solution is simple: you’d better stop before falling. So, next time you notice you started browsing the website of a museum and landed on a Youtube page with a naked girl doing a table dance, catch yourself from falling in the rabbit hole!