Information overload: too much information, too little time: July 29, 2002 issue of New Thinking

July 29, 2002 New Thinking:
Information overload: too much information, too little time

Website content management

Home I About I Services I Clients I Contact

New Thinking Home

Subject Classification
Reader Feedback
Subscribing
Unsubscribing
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996

Books by
Gerry McGovern

Content Critical

Gaining competitive advantage through high-quality web content

The Web Content
Style Guide

The essential guide
for online writers, editors and managers

July 29, 2002

Information overload: too much information, too little time

By Gerry McGovern

There is an underlying trend that connects the current stock market crisis and the September 11 terrorist attacks. The information society is producing too much information and there is too little time to properly digest it. The problem will get worse. Information overload is the key challenge of the information society.

The CIA and FBI talk about TMI (too much information). Information was available that could possibly have thwarted the September 11 attacks. It wasn't properly identified, wasn't properly analyzed, wasn't properly coordinated, didn't get to the right people, wasn't acted on quickly enough.

From irrational exuberance to lemming hysteria, the stock market is a market of emotions. It is supposed to be a market of logic driven by information. The problem is that there is too much information.

Putting the greed factor to the side for a moment, many of the so-called experts didn't know what they were talking about. They either didn't have the time or the competence to analyze the vast quantities of information they were receiving.

The information overload crisis has two core causes. The first is that information technology (IT) has unleashed a vast potential to create and publish huge quantities of content. A University of California study estimated that each year we produce 250 megabytes of data for every man, woman and child on the planet.

The second cause is the limitation of the human brain to be able to make use of all this information. Moore's law predicts that every eighteen months processing power doubles while its price halves. The law of the human brain dictates that every eighteen months the amount of information we are exposed to doubles while our attention span halves.

What we see today is the irresistible force of IT hitting up against the immoveable object of human intelligence. I saw 25-year-old analysts treated like gods on Wall Street. It wasn't because of what they knew but rather because of the impression of what they knew.

When the history of the Dot Com era is written, the role of journalism in hyping things deserves examination. The media has had a truly abysmal record in delivering thoughtful opinion. I listened to a renowned journalist sneer at Enron as it collapsed. The same journalist had eulogized Enron in a book he had written.

Yes, greed drove much of the Dot Com mania. I too, thought I could get rich fast. I made decisions on a whim because I had become convinced that it really didn't matter what you did once you did it fast.

Have you ever felt a sense of panic as you realized that you simply didn't have the time or energy to know all you need to know? Emails and mobile phones have speeded up communication, but they have not helped us make better decisions.

It is now accepted that stock prices were hugely unrealistic. Why didn't all this wonderful IT tell us that years ago? Instead of creating a perfect information environment, IT has facilitated a perfect misinformation environment.

IT is supposed to make us more efficient. It's making us more inefficient. It's not more information we need but rather more time, more analysis, more judgment. People can't get off their mobile phones. They must get their emails on their handhelds on the train. We have become an economy of information busy-bees. And we keep missing the point.

Gerry McGovern

Next issue: Information overload: learning to take your time
Previous issue: Why your website requires a publishing schedule

New Thinking homepage

"Everyone involved in the Web should read Content Critical. It is Tom Paine's Common Sense for a wired world. Buy it now or watch your empire fall."
Rob Benson, TrainingZONE

"The term "bible" is now highly over-used in reference to tech books – but if it weren't, that's how I would categorize Content Critical."
Rowan Wilson, Knowledge Management Review

"Content Critical is the best non-technical book on the subject of web content that I have come across to date.
Andy Harrison, Content Management Focus magazine

Buy Content Critical

New Thinking Newsletter
Subscribe to this free weekly newsletter covering the role and function of content on the Web.
More info | Privacy policy
Read the current issue

Email Address:

 Subscribe  Unsubscribe

We have become an economy of information busy-bees. And we keep missing the point.

Gerry McGovern's books are recommended reading at the following universities

Augustana College, United States
Brandeis University, United States
Drury University, United States
Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland
Indiana University, United States
Monash University, Australia
Northeastern University, United States
University of Applied Sciences, Germany
University of Regina, Canada
University of Teesside, UK
Manchester Metropolitan University

Find out more about Content Critical