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Information Overload No Problem For Most Americans: Survey (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the information-glut dept.

About 20 percent of American adults feel the burden of information overload, with that figure at least doubling among those from poorer or less educated backgrounds, Pew Research Center said in a new report. Reuters adds: "Generally, Americans appreciate lots of information and access to it," said the report into how U.S. adults cope with information demands. Roughly four in five Americans agree that they are confident about using the internet to keep up with information demands, that a lot of information gives them a feeling of more control over their lives, and that they can easily determine what information is trustworthy. Americans who are 65 or older, have a high school diploma or less and earn less than $30,000 a year are more likely to say they face a glut of information. Eighty-four percent of Americans with online access through three sources -- home broadband, smartphone and tablet computer -- say they like having so much information available. By contrast, 55 percent of those with no online source felt overwhelmed by the amount of possible information.

13 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. What is pushed aside? by QuietLagoon · · Score: 5, Interesting
    When there is an abundance of information clamoring for attention, something has to give. That something is attention span. As more and more infromation demands our attention, each bit of information receives a smaller amount of our attention

    .
    We've become like hummingbirds, flitting from one information source to the next.

    No longer do we take the time to digest the information we gather.

    1. Re:What is pushed aside? by mlw4428 · · Score: 2

      Organization and prioritization become important as is the good ol' trusty "to do" list. The problem, for me, is organizing the disparate pieces of information and molding them into a useful body of knowledge that I can draw from. Evernote doesn't cute it, nor OneNote - these things require manual work. Outlook is a joke. What needs to happen is something that I can plug in email, voicemail, text messages, handwritten notes, etc all into one "brain" that can understand, categorize, and do an initial prioritization. That organized information can then be presented to me in a structured format so that I can reprioritize, search, update, and utilize that information.

    2. Re:What is pushed aside? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 3, Funny

      When there is an abundance of information clamoring for attention, something has to give. That something is attention span. As more and more infromation demands our attention, each bit of information receives a smaller amount of our attention

      .

      We've become like hummingbirds, flitting from one information source to the next.

      No longer do we take the time to digest the information we gather.

      Too Long. Didn't Read.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    3. Re:What is pushed aside? by acoustix · · Score: 2

      I agree 100%. Especially people at work who think they need 50 reports in their inbox every morning. There's no way they can look at all of those reports and make an intelligent decision. Every once-and-a while I'll stop sending a report.

      Five months later, "hey I didn't get Report X today, can you resend it ASAP. It is critical that I see that report every day"
      Me: "You haven't received that report in several months. I also think you don't know what "critical" means."

      There's a difference between managing information properly, and saying that you like to have lots of information available. If you can't differentiate between the two, you're likely just like my coworker.

      --
      "A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
    4. Re:What is pushed aside? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Ok..well, the civility has broken down greatly over the past 20 years or so...

      By every measurable criteria, the opposite has happened. Crime has gone down. Violent crime has gone down even more. Formerly marginalized groups are doing better.

      That and parents not raising their kids to respect others over the past 30 years...

      Can you point to any actual evidence that kids today are less respectful than they were in 1986?

    5. Re:What is pushed aside? by mjwx · · Score: 2

      Ok..well, the civility has broken down greatly over the past 20 years or so...

      By every measurable criteria, the opposite has happened. Crime has gone down. Violent crime has gone down even more. Formerly marginalized groups are doing better.

      That and parents not raising their kids to respect others over the past 30 years...

      Can you point to any actual evidence that kids today are less respectful than they were in 1986?

      C'mon, this kind of thing has been going on for literally millennia.

      Socrates wrote around 400 BC

      The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

      So clearly society has been going down hill for over 2000 years.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  2. Obligatory xkcd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    http://xkcd.com/1227/

  3. Delusional by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    ...that a lot of information gives them a feeling of more control over their lives, and that they can easily determine what information is trustworthy.

    The fact that most of them get suckered with fake news proves that wrong. And even then, it's a bitch to even fact check decent news sources these days - they get it wrong, too sometimes.

    And lastly as far as information overload - I feel it. It's just too much and most of it is just noise. The media beats shit to death to the point of ignoring other things. For example, Trump's tweet on the new Air Force One is getting more news exposure than it deserves. I'd like to know more about WTF Congress is up to NOW and what their planning for the beginning of next year - that is what concerns me.

    But that's what the sheeple want to hear - I can't blame the media. The sheeple want entertainment and they don't really care about the boring stuff.

  4. Dunning–Kruger effect in action by ugen · · Score: 2

    eom

  5. Not surprising at all by Dutchmaan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's no problem because Americans are becoming increasingly comfortable with cherry picking their preferred "information" and discarding the rest, and critical thinking is considered "PC" and thus shunned.

  6. I doubt it by Nunya666 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    According to TFS, "Roughly four in five Americans agree that ... they can easily determine what information is trustworthy."

    Considering how many Americans only use their computers to access Facebook and email, that "4 out of 5" claim seems unlikely. What seems more likely is that "4 out of 5 Americans have no idea what information is trustworthy because they get said information from social media."

  7. I find possibility overload harder to handle by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

    I don't mind information overload, because I can quickly skim or toss aside anything I don't find valuable. Computers are pretty good at helping me refine a lot of information.

    More troubling is possibility overload, that is the plethora of tools around that let us create amazing websites or apps or images... there are so many choices now that I often get caught in paralysis where I spend so much time trying to decide what tool to use I end up doing nothing.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  8. Re:How exactly do they decide what is trustworthy? by sound+vision · · Score: 2

    Looking at the source is the most useful way for a normal person to quickly assess the credibility of information. Its quickness is what makes it useful. Most people who don't have the time to personally investigate the broad range of issues that a news organization does. But, they can pick up a paper and get an overview of everything, with reasonable confidence that it's not made-up. This really is the function the press serves in our society.

    Sure, the big-name organizations do occasionally make stories up - see Dan Rather. But there are enough eyes on these stories that the truth does eventually come out, and it ends the career of whosoever was involved. There is accountability on the rare occasions when the big news organizations put out total lies.

    I realize that it's in vogue in certain circles to shit all over respectable news organizations, but what's the proposed replacement? None. The de-facto replacement will end up being trash from Facebook, totally unvetted web sites ran by shills, etc. A great thing, if your goal is to spread misinformation. I feel like you're either consciously complicit in this, or you've been suckered in by those who are.