Inforich or Infobloated?

Post date

21 Mar 2010

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In an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it
Herbert Simon (1916 – 2001)

Around 1996 I had my first experience with the Internet. Back then you didn’t have as many net-terms as we do today, but one which immediately catch my attention was “Info-rich”.

The word describes the access to knowledge within the information society and the internet literacy of people. As counterpart, little or no access at all is known as Info-poor. Later known as the digital divide, it is not only a new distinction in today society classes but also a way to describe the gap between developed and developing countries.

Lately I’ve been concern about a little ability of mine which I share with many people. Somehow I manage to capture a huge amount of articles and information I want to digest, not only from the Internet but also TV programs, newspapers, books, courses… and my inbox just keeps growing. My efforts to satisfy my curiosity about several subjects has only lead me to a poor time management. That’s why I know I don’t fulfill my efforts on my projects, not even my free time.

I am starting to develop my skills on attention allocation. Otherwise I will no longer consider me as info-rich but as info-bloated. Some state where the information becomes useless because the quantity which keeps coming into my inbox only makes me information bloated. As time goes by, this started to affect my own personality. Just like information, I try to grasp many personal projects to the point I stop being efficient. Or was it the other way around?

Now I process information just like I take money decisions. Before putting something in my inbox I formulate the same question: Is my attention worth the cost? An inoffensive article might seem inocuous. However they build up to a great attention comsuption with huge but unseen costs.

Kent Thune post on attention economy and finance, from whom I discovered the Herbert Simon’s quote, has been writing about this issue which I want to focus more on personal time management.

The short message here is to encourage you to GTD yourself. If David Allen’s methology doesn’t apply to you find something which does. I keep a constant effort to apply it on my life and I do believe his advice and tips are priceless either in my professional as my personal life.

In order to become a happy organization-freak you must learn to process all information attacking you. The key point is to fine-tune your skills to reject information and digest what you decided to let through. Then some extra organization tips will help but two are a must.

The Digital Lumberjack

Hacking Code When Life Goes Digital