Technology has to be blamed for the fact that we’re suffering from information overload, claims an old-timer.
BC: Hi, did you get your newspaper this morning?
AD: I wouldn't know, I get all my news online.
BC: How do you manage to keep track? There’s such an overdose of news and articles on the net — it becomes so difficult to find your way through that maze, figure out which ones you want to read and…
AD: I don’t think it’s all that complicated.
BC: A newspaper has 20-odd pages and each page has a finite number of articles and news items — isn't it easier to follow them than have a million websites report the same incident in different ways?
AD: You need to instal a couple of filters to make your life easy — one is to your computer, to help you be selective about what you read. And the other is to your mind, to stay focussed and not vacillate about which site to browse.
BC: But why complicate things in the first place? Technology was brought in to simplify life, but...
AD: Here we go again. It's pretty simple actually, as long as you know what to look for and where to look for it.
BC: You’re trivialising the problem.
AD: I don't understand why you're blaming technology for it. Hasn't information overload been bandied about as the bane of civilisation ever since the printing press came into existence?
BC: C'mon, you can't compare a few hundred books to an unending barrage of information online. Even social media has become a source of news — there are so many 'relevant' news items that are begging for your attention. And the ones that you miss out on are purposefully forwarded to you by friends and contacts — a host of sites such as Mashable, Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, Digg and Facebook are more than willing to bring it to your laptop or mobile.
AD: You should learn to ignore most of them, especially those awful forwards in the 'self-help' and 'how to' categories.
BC: They're the ones that people just can't resist and so they end up loading themselves with information on everything from how to practise yoga at a fast-food joint to a thousand selfie poses to try out and post online before you die.
AD: But there’s a positive side to all this.
BC: The problem is that there is no balance. The pendulum has swung from a dearth of information to a surfeit of it.
AD: It's about prioritising.
BC: And what about spam? Think of all the mail you get from dubious sources that clog your inbox — and think of the time you spend in clearing it, day after day.
AD: Isn't that why we have spam filters? And why are you harping on the disadvantages of technology? What about the fact that you don't have to wait for the latest news any longer? Everything you want to know is now available at your fingertips.
BC: But I don't need all of that. What'll I do with a million sites telling me about Facebook buying Whatsapp, for instance? I need just one source of news to explain the deal to me...
AD: It's not about how much information you find — it's about knowing where to find information when you need it. That's the reason why search engines exist — and just because Google throws up a billion results doesn't mean you hare off checking out all of them.
BC: What about the health problems associated with information overload? Haven't you read about the computer vision syndrome, which affects those who stare at their screen for long durations?
AD: Scientists have come up with a brain scanner that can detect when an individual goes into information overload. Apparently, it's like a headband and is worn by the user...
BC: Look what technology has reduced us to.
AD: What do you mean?
BC: Until recently, a scanner was a peripheral connected to a computer. Now, thanks to information overload, even human beings sit attached to scanners.
