Information Overload

We have so much information available to us, and it is so easy to go get it. Some of it comes through a “pull” system, like going to different websites or leaving an office TV tuned to Bloomberg TV. Some of it is a “push” system, whether we are on mailing lists, getting individual e-mails, or just getting updates on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. There is almost no place we can go where we do not have access to an entire world of information (though in the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that I spent 5 days on a glacier in Antarctica last year with no internet access, and survived the lack of on-demand information).

The availability of information can be very useful for you and your employees. Many new ideas are developed from a synthesis of existing ideas. A news story can spark a new way of thinking about something. We can reach out and get answers in a hurry so we do not waste time digging for answers and instead can get back to our creative work. We can see what others in our field (including our competitors) are doing. And we can take a quick break, when we need to rest our brains, and just look at YouTube. The immediacy of our information access is a good thing.

But…

…and there is always a “but,” isn’t there?…

…too much information can overwhelm us.

If you take in too much information you will have trouble processing it, and that whole idea of synthesizing various ideas to come up with something new will not work. Never mind that time spent on Facebook or YouTube is (usually) time spent not working, there is also the problem that when you ARE working, it might not provide the high quality work you want.

Kathleen Parker wrote an interesting piece in the Washington Post a few years ago, reporting that

…with so much data coming from all directions, we risk paralysis. Brain freeze, some call it. More important, we also risk losing our ability to process the Big Ideas that might actually serve us better…

In fact, brain research shows that we do our best thinking when we’re not engaged and focused, yet fewer of us have time for downtime. (If you have to schedule relaxation, is it still relaxing?)

Daydreaming, we used to call it. Ask any creative person where they got their best ideas and they’ll say, “Dunno. Just came to me out of the blue.” If you’re looking for Eureka — as in the Aha! moment — you probably won’t find it while following David Gregory’s Tweets. Or checking Facebook to see who might be “friending” whom. Or whose status has been updated. George Orwell is . . . More likely, the ideas that save the world will present themselves in the shower or while we’re sweeping the front stoop. What the world needs now isn’t more, but less. The alternative to mindless activities for the mindful is turning out to be not a less-informed nation but a dumber one.

Unchecked “infomania” — yes, there’s even a term for this instapathology — can lead to a lower IQ, according to a 2005 Hewlett-Packard study. The research, conducted by a University of London psychologist, found that people distracted by e-mail and phone calls lost 10 IQ points, more than twice the impact of smoking marijuana — or comparable to losing a night’s sleep.

Just as too much candy rots your teeth, apparently so too does too much information rot your brain.

The solution is not to confiscate the phones or restrict internet access. C’mon, let’s not be silly. As is the case any time there are benefits and costs to something, you need to strike the right balance. Making polices about shutting down information, like limiting internet usage, can be seen as punishment and can also end up hurting your employees’ ability to do their jobs…remember, information is good. Instead of trying to force something upon your employees, try teaching them instead. Help them discover the proper balance for themselves, give them the tools to figure this out on their own. You will end the day with employees who are better at getting and using information, and in the process, they won’t hate you. Put those two results together — more skill, no hate — and that is not a bad outcome.