FYI…
We live in one of those lottery ball popper machine thingies.
The balls represent the frenetic stream of information bouncing all around us.
FYI…
According to Richard Wurman, who wrote Information Anxiety (1989, Doubleday), a typical edition of The New York Times contains more information than the average person in 17th-century England was likely to come across in a lifetime.
Which means—and I’m just guessing here—that the average web-savvy person probably gobbles up more information in a single day than our granddaddies did in a year.
FYI…
I’m not sure we need all that information. No, I am quite sure we don’t need all that information.
FYI…
A few minutes ago I almost clicked on my “Seth Godin’s Blog” tab on my browser. He’s always got something good to say. Some serious FYI. But I stopped myself.
Why? Because I’m in the middle of a busy week and I’ve already got enough on my plate and far too much on my mind. I don’t need another bit or byte or quote or quibble. I just don’t.
FYI…
Many of us use info surfing—whether on Facebook or Yahoo! or Pinterest or Twitter or blogs like this one—as a diversion, a time killer, maybe a coffee break. But I’m not sure inhaling more information is always a healthy break.
FYI…
I think FYI is killing us.
FYI…
I already have enough information to live my life. I’m not saying we should stop learning (I’m a lifelong learner); I’m saying maybe it’s time we regulated our information intake and spent more time meditating on the information we aren’t doing enough about already. It’s true, Seth’s blog may have just the gem I need to hit a home run today.
Right now, though, I’m going to let it go and be content with getting on base.
FYI…
I think we believe the key to a better life is hidden in the information we don’t have yet instead of applying the information we do have.
FYI.
I think it’s pretty important to stop ourselves a few times throughout each day and ask, “Do I really need more information?”
I also think those of us who produce information for a living need to acknowledge that endless info dumping can strip us of our humanity and reduce our souls to printing presses.
Do you ever feel information overload or information anxiety? How do you cope with that?