| All knowledge workers of today can attest to the | | | | once a day, keeping up with the information flow |
| overwhelming amount of information they need | | | | was not a big problem. Today, the analogy of |
| to deal with on a daily basis. This constant state | | | | drinking from a fire hose pales in comparison to |
| of information overload is caused by several | | | | the flood of information rushing at you from all |
| conspiring factors: | | | | directions. |
| #1 - More Information Than We Can Process | | | | Not only has the speed of delivery increased over |
| Search the web for almost any topic and you will | | | | time, but it continues to accelerate, creating an |
| get millions of web pages as a result. To this you | | | | exponential effect. |
| can add hundreds of ebooks on the topic and | | | | #4 - Value of Information Plummets |
| most likely a dozen traditionally published books | | | | The information age was based on the principle |
| available on There is no way you can possibly | | | | that information was scarce and valuable. In the |
| process all this information in your lifetime. And | | | | Attention Age with a glut of information available, |
| this is just for one topic you're working on this | | | | the perceived value quickly approaches zero. This |
| week. | | | | applies indiscriminately to all information since we |
| How do you know which of all this information is | | | | have no effective mechanisms to evaluate what |
| remotely important, or even factually correct? | | | | is truly important, what is simply redundant and |
| Google tries to rank their search results by | | | | what is plain junk. |
| relevance according to their own secret | | | | All marketers of information products should be |
| algorithms. Traditional book publishers filter out | | | | gravely concerned about this trend. How can you |
| most book proposals and only publish a very small | | | | sell products at a profit in the future when the |
| fraction of the books they are offered. | | | | perceived value of all information is $0? |
| Presumably only the "best" books get published | | | | Furthermore, it will probably not take long before |
| with this process. But according to what criteria? | | | | people realize that some information is worth less |
| Just to discover who is an authority on the topic | | | | than $0. Given that our attention is the most |
| that your are trying to research, adds another | | | | scarce and valuable resource in the Attention |
| dimension to your research. Which in turn results | | | | Age, processing and evaluating information comes |
| in more information that you need to process. | | | | at a severe cost. This cost should be deducted |
| #2 - Bombardment of Unsolicited Information | | | | from the previously perceived value of the |
| How many unsolicited emails do you receive each | | | | information, to arrive at its true value. |
| day? And that's after your SPAM filter has done | | | | #5 - Amount of Contradiction Increase |
| its best to spare you from the majority of the | | | | With a thousand voices screaming at you, who do |
| onslaught. But do you really trust your SPAM | | | | you trust? The one with the loudest voice? The |
| filter? Don't you occasionally check the SPAM | | | | one with the largest group of supporters? How |
| folder to see if something important didn't slip | | | | do you evaluate contradictory information in a |
| through? | | | | subject that you are just beginning to research? |
| How many email lists or ezines have you | | | | In previous ages the number of information |
| subscribed to that were once relevant to your | | | | sources was significantly smaller, even orders of |
| work, but are now just sending your irrelevant | | | | magnitudes smaller. Back then, these information |
| commercial offers? But since they once contained | | | | sources assumed the role of an authority since |
| valuable information you stay on the subscription | | | | they practically had a monopoly on information |
| list because there may be something useful yet | | | | distribution. Think about your old hometown |
| to come. | | | | newspaper. What they printed was universally |
| When you search or browse the web you are | | | | accepted as "the truth". |
| constantly bombarded with ads that are tailored | | | | #6 - Our Information Needs Increase |
| to appear to be relevant to what you are looking | | | | "The one with the most money wins" has been |
| for. Since there might be something useful in | | | | replaced by "the one with the most information |
| these offers, you click on the ads. Leading to | | | | wins". If you know something about the market |
| even more unsolicited information that you need | | | | that your competitor doesn't, then you have an |
| to evaluate and process. | | | | advantage. This information arms race leads to an |
| All this adds up to increasing amounts of | | | | ever increasing appetite for more information. |
| unsolicited information that you need to deal with, | | | | Which of course feeds into the previous bullets in |
| just to get to the information that you have | | | | a vicious circle. |
| requested and really need. | | | | These bullets were inspired by Rich Schefren's |
| #3 - Speed of New Information Accelerates | | | | recent report: The Attention Age Doctrine. A |
| Back when the majority of your information was | | | | following article will deal with strategies for |
| delivered by the postman and the newspaper boy | | | | surviving information overload. |