In the process of development of a story or a report or even a blog post for that matter, constant dips into research updates and information sources becomes in
evitable. In one of the reports for a session of MIS (Management Information Systems), while gathering pointers from library books, rather hurriedly (due to lack of time or my complacence up to date of submission), I chanced upon an early edition of Alvin Toffler’s ‘Future Shock’. This book gave some pretty hard hitting concepts. Buried in two neat towers of books with magazines spread all around, while I was lapping up all the information in the book, there was a concept that was rather unusual and ironical to my situation – it was called ‘Information overload’! Toffler in his analysis put forth his theory that there can be a situation where there is too much information. Now, that seemed rather preposterous at that time, for information was the one thing that was hard to obtain. No matter how many books one referred, there was always that one author whose books were hard to find or out of stock. Almost like freshly baked bread rolls near the college. To support this concept, there were references that some books quoted from The New York Times dating back to 1970s. Information explosion seemed like a difficult pill to swallow at that time. Somehow, the ramifications of too much information did not seem greatly destructive to be termed explosive.
evitable. In one of the reports for a session of MIS (Management Information Systems), while gathering pointers from library books, rather hurriedly (due to lack of time or my complacence up to date of submission), I chanced upon an early edition of Alvin Toffler’s ‘Future Shock’. This book gave some pretty hard hitting concepts. Buried in two neat towers of books with magazines spread all around, while I was lapping up all the information in the book, there was a concept that was rather unusual and ironical to my situation – it was called ‘Information overload’! Toffler in his analysis put forth his theory that there can be a situation where there is too much information. Now, that seemed rather preposterous at that time, for information was the one thing that was hard to obtain. No matter how many books one referred, there was always that one author whose books were hard to find or out of stock. Almost like freshly baked bread rolls near the college. To support this concept, there were references that some books quoted from The New York Times dating back to 1970s. Information explosion seemed like a difficult pill to swallow at that time. Somehow, the ramifications of too much information did not seem greatly destructive to be termed explosive. Internet invaded somewhere around that time and access to anything and almost every
thing became extremely easy. Book report? There were ready made ones that were available. Papers on Management concepts like Shamrock Organization? There were many options to choose from. It started to get queasy and listless when finishing project reports were simply ripped off and submitted as the fruit of some hard labour. Sure, one wouldn’t consider long hours spent browsing the Internet and skimming sites after sites to get the right match!
thing became extremely easy. Book report? There were ready made ones that were available. Papers on Management concepts like Shamrock Organization? There were many options to choose from. It started to get queasy and listless when finishing project reports were simply ripped off and submitted as the fruit of some hard labour. Sure, one wouldn’t consider long hours spent browsing the Internet and skimming sites after sites to get the right match!Besides work, applications and applets made emails, chats and communications available and how! Those who were indifferent to the concept of having pen friends, very easily slipped into the disguise of fake IDs and profiles to talk with other IDs – I’m not judging whether they were real, but you get the picture! Emails became frequent and in your face. People who sat next door sent a ‘Hi!’ or ‘Good day!’ as easily as they browsed for the latest news for a client meet! Vocal conversations became few and far between and the threshold of tolerance towards others when met face-to-face took a deep dive down. This was all information being fed, uploaded and downloaded constantly.
While spam emails and chat pop ups, many from known IDs, had started to get annoying, Social Networking s
warmed into the picture along with Thomas Friedman’s ‘World is Flat’. Through Orkut, Facebook, MySpace, etc there was hardly any breathing space for planned delay of updates or privacy of communications. Everybody can now know what everyone else is talking, writing, saying, thinking at any given point of time. Everything was available at the click of a button. Information superhighway just turned into Information at my fingertips! It was novel, innovative, fascinating, and a highly addictive proposition to be part of this movement. At the same time, it is scary that one’s details- personal & professional and opinions on the economy, people, music, movies and a multitude of other things – consequential and inconsequential – is available on an info platter. Yes, there are Privacy controls but their effectiveness in moderation and restrictions are highly suspect. I know I cannot write just about anything that would otherwise find its way into my diary in long hand.
warmed into the picture along with Thomas Friedman’s ‘World is Flat’. Through Orkut, Facebook, MySpace, etc there was hardly any breathing space for planned delay of updates or privacy of communications. Everybody can now know what everyone else is talking, writing, saying, thinking at any given point of time. Everything was available at the click of a button. Information superhighway just turned into Information at my fingertips! It was novel, innovative, fascinating, and a highly addictive proposition to be part of this movement. At the same time, it is scary that one’s details- personal & professional and opinions on the economy, people, music, movies and a multitude of other things – consequential and inconsequential – is available on an info platter. Yes, there are Privacy controls but their effectiveness in moderation and restrictions are highly suspect. I know I cannot write just about anything that would otherwise find its way into my diary in long hand.But what has the evolution of information accessibility got to do with Toffler’s hypothesis of Information Overload? In 350 BC or so, the world was introduced to the power of questioning by Socrates. Questions were what stirred the potpourri of thoughts and opinions in people so as to come up with answers. Had there been an Internet hub around Athens, the people would have simply logged on to Wikipedia or thousands of other alternatives to find all their answers. Introspection and inventions have perhaps become the luxury of a gifted few who have found a way to keep their thoughts and sanity together. Their inventions and innovations may have been supported by Macs and Blackberrys, but it is a fact that it happened despite all available, parasite-converting machines.
Being a marketing communications professional, it may not be a politically correct statement to make when I say that information explosion is a reality, one that requires immediate damage control. It is, however, sadly true that information at this scale made available with the fringes covering all other means of communications is capable of exploding the existence of the power to question and find the answers; besides being a constant cause of diversion potent enough to deflect the thinking process. It may be time to ask oneself once more, what TS Eliot had done years ago – “Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”
Image credits:
1. Billfrymire.com
2. Queens Univ
Divya Rao
June 21, 2010
Mumbai
June 21, 2010
Mumbai
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