Occasionally the debate about social media and the Internet will turn to the topic of "Information Overload." Are we simply getting hit with too much information? Frankly, I do not think there is any such thing as too much information. I just don't believe you can know too much about any particular topic or issue. More information is always better and the question is what level of interest do you have in the subject and to what degree does it affect your life.
If anything, we are more likely to have more control over the information that we receive today than we did before. With the Internet and social media tools, we have the ability to make choices about how, where and what type of information we want. In fact, such tools allow us to turn one information spigot on full blast and to shut another one down completely. Contrast that to what it used to be like "B.I." (Before the Internet). Our information sources were limited and we had to intake whatever amount of information we were given on any topic to get any information at all about that same subject. The same information could be "too much" and "too little" to different groups of people and neither group had much control over how much information they got and how.
Today, you control the switch. Social media is just one component of a new communications contiuum that is anchored in the Internet and empowering when it comes to deciding what you want to know, where you want to get it from and when and how you want to learn that information. Information overload is simply our choosing to open every single information door and window available to us rather than utilizing the power we have to determine which doors and windows we want (or need) to open when it comes to information.
Read this article on Social Media Overload from USA Today.
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