Coping with information overload

Coping with information overload
By Leon Gettler
SMH

One of the big issues now is information overload. It’s coming in from everywhere, thanks to multi tasking and email.

It’s just an avalanche of information, whether it’s from phone calls, attachments, Power Point presentations, instant messages and newsletters or social media.

In case you missed it, last week was Information Overload Awareness Day. It was suggested that people put their smart phone on mute and not check their email every time the pop up appears on the screen.

But that’s not really a solution. People might be able to do that for an hour or so, some even a day, but in the end they will go back to what they have always done. Information overload is now a permanent part of our lives. So what should we do about it?

According to a study from LexisNexis, reported here, half the Australian workforce of professionals is feeling demoralised and totally overwhelmed by the amount of information pouring in and, according to Marc Peter, Director of Technology and Business Development at LexisNexis Pacific, that’s leading to “information rage”.

Significantly, the study found that 50% of Australian professionals say that on average, only about half of the information that comes their way every day at work is actually important to them getting their job done.

Furthermore, only 40% of email that lands in their inbox helps them do their job (in my case, it's about 20%), 88% of Australian workers say they want to spend less time organising, and more time using the information that comes their way, Only one in five Australian professionals says the company has bothered training them on information management.

These figures tell us one thing: white-collar workers right around the world, from New York to Sydney, say they spend as much time wading through information as they do using it to get on with their jobs. And in every market, most employees say that the amount of information they have to manage at work has significantly increased since the economic downturn.

So what’s causing it? Many would say the Internet, but management consultant James Adonis begs to differ. He says the problem is not the amount of information. It's more about our inability to handle the onslaught.

"We can’t blame the Internet for it all,’’ Adonis says.“Whilst it’s undoubtedly exacerbating the issue, information overload has been around for decades. It’s just that today it’s instantaneous. With transmission of data from one person to another so effortless, we’re oblivious to the potential anxiety of the person who may not need (or care about) the information we’re conveying."

"Contrary to the theory of too much information is a contrary theory dubbed ‘organisation underload’. Proponents of this philosophy suggest it’s not an abundance of information that’s the problem; what’s really causing the angst is our inability to deal with it.”

Clay Shirky, one of the most prominent and best read commentators on the internet and new media, expands on this point. He says there is nothing new about information overload, it has always been with us. The problem, he says, is we haven’t yet learned how to filter stuff from the Internet in the same way as, say, a library card system.

Management consultant Tom Davenport makes an interesting point in the Harvard Business Review. He says we don’t deal with information overload because we actually like it.

“Our work and home lives can be pretty boring, and we're always hoping that something will come across the ether that will liven things up. If I turn up the filtering on the spam filter or turn off the smartphone, I might miss out on an email promising a new job, a text message offering a new relationship, an RSS feed with a new news item, and so forth. Every new communication offers the frisson of a possible life-changing information event, though it seldom delivers on the promise.”

Still, the LexisNexis study suggests it’s a problem, whether we want the information or not.

Published: 03 November 2010

http://content.mycareer.com.au/advice-research/workplace/information-overload.aspx?s_rid=smh:rainbowstrip:box2:campaign2:content2:09-11:02-04_howtodealwithworkplac:howtocopewithinformationoverload