Having Too Much Information Can Narrow Your Focus

CeruleanDragon writes "This excerpt sums up Dave Pell's article at NPR pretty well: 'Google's Eric Schmidt recently stated that every two days we create as much information as we did from the beginning of civilization through 2003. Perhaps the sheer bulk of data makes it easier to suppress that information which we find overly unpleasant. Who has got time for a victim in Afghanistan or end-of-life issues with all these tweets coming in?' It's a valid point. If it's not tweets or Facebook posts, it's lengthy forum arguments or reading news articles from the time you walk in the door at work until you're ready for bed at night, and realizing you didn't actually accomplish anything else. Sometimes too much information can get in the way of living and can bury otherwise important things."

Comments

Re:Loads of useless information

[Will.Woodhull]

It's a matter of vocabulary.

Until it is useful, it is only data. When it becomes useful, it becomes information.

Information is data that has value in reaching an informed opinion or making an informed decision.