# Do you think we suffer from information overload?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-suffer-from-information-overload/437031>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 10, 2008, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-suffer-from-information-overload/437031 "2008-02-10T13:54:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-suffer-from-information-overload/437031/21 "2008-02-11T20:57:38Z")

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I have given up on local news. It’s all House Fire Car Chase Home Invasion House Fire.

I get most of my local news from the radio now. It’s snippets, and they’ll break in when something is “important” (exceptions, see my OP about ABC breaking in with “Breaking News” on the US Olympic basketball team) but I don’t have to sit thorugh a half hour of nothing that’s relevant to me.

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**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-suffer-from-information-overload/437031/22 "2008-02-11T21:49:25Z")

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[QUOTE=Usram]  
I know exactly what you’re getting at. Actually, I don’t, I just looked it up on Wikipedia: [Information overload - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Overload)

:D,  
[/QUOTE]  
I liked the wiki tag at the beginning of the article:

> [@Wikipedia](#):
>
> The introduction of this article is too short.

😃

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**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-suffer-from-information-overload/437031/23 "2008-02-12T00:57:40Z")

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[QUOTE=ivylass]  
With access to instant news, via the radio, all-news channels, and the internet, do you find yourself making snap decisions about issues?  
[/QUOTE]  
No, not I. Just because you _have_ access to all that news doesn’t mean you have to avail yourself of it. Me, I tend to stick to news sources where _I_ get to choose how much of my time and attention to devote to each story.

> [@](#):
>
> it seems that more and more we are asked to react RIGHT NOW to information, rather than sitting back and trying to digest the situation and wait for more facts.

**Who** is asking you to react RIGHT NOW?

Much of the “news,” like the Heath Ledger death, consists of things that, in some sense, are none of my business. I don’t have to react to them at all if I don’t want to. If I’m interested, fine; if I’m not, fine also; but they’re not anything I have to (or can) do anything about. This includes virtually all sports, entertainment, and celebrity gossip, and even a fair amount of politics, crime, and natural disaster news.

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