Aaron Hollman's Blog

Information Overload

We live in an era of 24 hour news stations, the internet and mobile devices that give us information on demand. Its no wonder that occasionally all of us find our selves ‘bummed out’ from information overload.

After seeing an article on dumblittleman.com (Six Smart Ways To Beat Information Overload) earlier last week, it got me to thinking, how do I deal with information overload while working in the IT field and taking on computers and technology as a hobby. I, probably more so than the casual person, is probably more susceptible to information overload; and I have been. Let me recount to you a story.

During and shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, I remember wishing for something, anything, to watch on TV or listen to on the radio other than news about the terrorist attacks. Even my fail-safe channels like MTV and QVC were broadcasting news reports of the attacks. It was too much.

Life continued like this for almost the whole week and the internet was no escape either. No matter what website I went to, there was almost alway a reference to the attacks in some way, shape or form. Even theonion.com had already satirized the events of that day.

Even as the news began to fade and life got off the shoulder and pulled back onto the road of time, normalcy, human instinct would not. I found myself watching regular programming, but during the commercials would flip channels to CNN just to see what was going on. My intended few seconds of checking out ‘what was going on’ turned into hours of overloading myself even more.

It was at this point that I finally realized that ‘I had a problem’. I don’t say this to be offensive to people who suffer from other addictions such as alcoholism or drug addiction, but mean it to be serious. My thirst for news and information was getting in the way of me living a normal life. I began catastrophizing in my mind, ‘What if this? What if that?’ It was really affecting me in a not so good way.

I tried to pull myself out of it by first blocking all of the news channels in my TV. This added just a small hurdle to my desire to find out more about the train wreck that at the time was the news. I simply entered the channel number in manually and I was back to my old habits.

Real relief began later the next year when I disconnected my cable (mostly because I was a poor college student and not because I was getting too much news) It took a little time, but I found myself feeling better and better because I was not being inundated with all of this news.

Eventually, I stopped obsessively listening to news and talk radio and began turning my attention to more escapist type programming such as entertainment shows and music. Don’t get me wrong, I not only think it is ok to be informed, but also wise. It is my hope that everyone in the world can enjoy the freedom of speech and press that we enjoy and often take for granite in America.

The story I share is only one example of information overload. It can happen while searching for regular information as well. Wikipedia, Digg, Google, Twitter, Slashdot, Facebook, MySpace are all good to a point but when they start becoming an obsession, it might be time to escape back into real life.

When I was working on the Battle of Hastings article last week (admittedly, not one of my better articles) I found myself with burning eyes and a fatigued spirit. I had been reading about the battle for several hours. I needed a break so I took one. I went on the deck, bottle of (insert favorite beverage here) in hand. The only electronic device I had was my iPod Touch which I used to listen to Pandora radio (music, not news). I proceeded to do absolutely nothing for the next hour or so and it was great.

I believe that knowledge is power but too much of it at once can fry some circuits, and we need a break from it every once in a while. Here is a list of some suggestions to help take a break from the information overload when you need it. This is by no means a complete list, but just a start:

-Take a walk (leaving technology behind)
-Exercise
-Meditate
-Nap
-Go shopping
-Go out to eat
-Go on a date
-Do house/yard work
-Watch a movie
-Play with pets
-Volunteer

I would be interested in hearing any ways you may have to deal with information overload. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

aaron

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