Information Overload

As a married man with a houseful of pets, a homeowner, a fulltime employee, and a student I find myself in a constant battle with information overload. I take care of school and personal business during my lunch hour at work. I see to my pets while I’m doing my schoolwork. I’m on the phone with my family as I’m playing with the pets. All the while, friends and coworkers are in out, the TV is on, the radio is playing, and my mind can’t settle on any of it.

In our wired world where our Email is constantly there in our Blackberry, and we can surf the web with our smart phone no matter where we are, do we sacrifice focus for convenience? Our text points out that the average American sees 600 to 625 advertising messages each day (272). At this point we are being distracted from our distractions. So, while I am having a pleasant evening with friends and family, the TV will be on, I will Google the actors on my smart phone, and both distractions will advertise targeted products to me the entire time. There will be ads for my smart phone on TV and ads for TV on my smart phone, and most likely someone on the show I’m watching will be doing the same thing. But I really can’t be sure because I’ll be half paying attention to the funny story someone’s telling in the kitchen.

Technology has made information nearly ubiquitous and I wouldn’t know what to do without it. I’m glad I have Email and can Google my curiosities. Sometimes though, all the resources want my attention at once and my eyes will bounce from screen to screen to book to window, and that’s when I know its time to shut something down.