Information Diet

This might seem heretical and blasphemous to some, but there really is such a condition as information overload. Ever been reading a blog, a website, an RSS feed, a Wikipedia entry and you come across some interesting content with many, many links to other extra content? Ever suddenly open several new web browser tabs or extra windows with this information so you can read them right after that article? Then you read them, find more links the cycle begins all over again? Next thing you know, you have wasted a lot of time and don’t really have much to show for it.

The more information you get, the more information you need. The more you need, the more you want and the more you are overwhelmed by the information you get. And so on it goes, in a vicious cycle.

If the above sounds familiar, perhaps you might need to consider an information diet. That is not as scary as it sounds and it can actually be quite good for you. You could consider one week of cold turkey; no web surfing, no excessive email checking, no RSS, no news and no television. The only allowance is one hour a day to do any of the above. Or if that is too extreme, try setting a period of time, say once or twice a day, where you do your email checking and quick RSS feed and do not touch them at all at any part. This means actually closing your email program and only opening it at these times.

Follow the above and you will find that you suddenly have more time, you might even unsubscribe from non-essential news streams, RSS feeds, kick the constant email checking habit and find yourself with more time you never thought you had before to dedicate to other hobbies.