Managing Information Overload (Part 1)
| 10/9/2008 | Posted by Pete under General |
“We have for the first time an economy based on a key resource [information] that is not only renewable, but self-generating. Running out of it is not a problem, but drowning in it is.”John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends.
This quote from John Naisitt illustrates how much of a problem information overload is for today’s culture.We live in a world that now has a potentially unlimited amount of self-perpetuating videos, media and writing all available at the click of a mouse. This generation has more information available to it than any other previous generation could have dreamt of.
In this short, but hopefully informative series I will show you some ways in which you can avoid the fire-hose of information that is blasting you from all directions, and show how you can keep yourself sane, whilst still being able to enjoy life.
Undoubtedly there are people who thrive on information, who actually are able to function with the load, and come out with their minds still intact. There are the people who think they can function, but are in fact giving themselves a lot more stress than they need to. If this is you, then you are the person for whom this series is being written.
Reducing your RSS feeds
More information is not necessarily better. It has been shown that too much information can lead to worse decisions being made. Do you really need to subscibe to the RSS feed of a site you’ve visited once? Could you possibly live without it? I think in most cases you’ll find that not having the information is just as good as having it, possibly better.
Tip: Go through your RSS feeds and prune out those that don’t add value to your life.
Reduce your web surfing
Do you ever find that you go to look up something online and find that you’re still there an hour later, reading something that is totally unrelated to the reason that you initially went online for? If so, you should set yourself a timer that will go off in 5 minutes. If you’re still reading about what you were looking for fine, give yourself another 5 minutes and keep going. As soon as you go off the topic you were looking for, close your browser and head back into the real world.
Part 2 — Coming soon.
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