Cache directory "/home7/mammalov/public_html/wp-content/plugins/ttftitles/cache" is not writable.It Might Be too Much
I appreciate anyone who is here taking time out of their day to see what has dribbled from my brain. I appreciate it even more after listening to a story on NPR yesterday about Digital Overload.
According to the story, we are taking in three times the information our grandparents were when they were my age in the 60’s.
That’s a lot of information and really, how much of it is necessary? Ironically, the more information we take in, the more difficult it is for us to filter out the irrelevant drivel.
I hit a wall with TV a few years back–probably around the time I had kids–where I just couldn’t sit down for long periods of time surfing channels they way I could in my teens and 20’s. And I was a champion channel surfer! Maybe it was all the time these little people demanded. Maybe it was the advent of the web and the surfing I could do there. Whatever it was, I became more selective in what I watched. I couldn’t tolerate the sitcoms that all of the sudden seemed inane. I COULD NOT tolerate the “reality” TV shows that gave fame to people who did nothing to deserve my attention except to act like assholes in front of the nation. (I know. I know. Everyone loves Dancing with the Stars and the Real Housewives. Trust me it stinks to have no way to take part in a conversation when it turns to these.)
Was my brain doing me a favor? Was it crying enough?
As time went on, my free time became focused on the internet where I noticed the cycle repeating itself. First, the stupid chain emails made my eyeballs itch. Then the social media “experts” that we all had to read because they were so brilliant? I stopped noticing anything new. The viral videos that spread like wildfire? Those are minutes (only a few at a time I realize) that I will never get back.
I hunger for substance. I hunger for connection. I hunger for community. I have gotten that at times online, but I wonder if all the noise isn’t a bit too much to make it worthwhile.
What will happen to us if we subsist on nothing but the sugary carbs that parts of the Internet and social media worlds have become?
Has this happened to you? What have you done to combat your own digital overload?
| Tags: Blogging, digital overload, social media 8 comments »
August 25th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Problem with me, too. Of course, there is no solution because each of us is part of the problem as well, as we have all been turned into publishers putting on side shows to attract others to come to our sites. THAT is the big difference with our grandparents. Not the information that is coming into us. But the fact that each of us is now a writer and a photographer and a self employed businessperson vying for attention.
August 25th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
So then Neil I wonder if that means the only good thing for me to do is stop?
August 26th, 2010 at 1:31 am
Well, being much closer to your grandparents generation I can still remember taking in less information—when my brain could grasp it better than I can now. I’ve had a lot more unplugged time in my life lately —and I’m pretty sure it’s a good thing. Only I still suffer from digital overload– so maybe my brain hasn’t had time to catch up.
It makes you really wonder about the effect on our kids.
August 26th, 2010 at 7:16 am
It is kind of freaky to me, the amount of information that is at our fingertips. Want to know something? Google it. It’s obnoxious when you type a question in and find there are 1,273, 468 entries that arise from such a Google search. It’s like going to the Information Mall: Too Many Shiny Things. Information Overload.
I am not a reality show fan–DWTS? Real Housewives? Survivor XXVIII? Um…yeah, I can’t participate in that conversation either. I have issues with inane trainwrecks vying for my viewing time. Don’t get me started on the Bachelor/Bachelorette…I find the concept (not to mention the people on the show) so painful that I could go on and on.
I too crave substance and connection. I go back and forth between believing that the internet has so much static that it must be nothing but shit, and believing that it is actually all the static that helps to shine a light on the real quality writing that is out there to be found. My pendulum swings back and forth, and it hasn’t begun to slow down yet.
The way I address it? Total unplug. I do it periodically–no posts on my blog, no RSS reader, no Google, no email. No digital BS. When I return, I cull out the reader, dumping the feeds that lack substance, or no longer interest me, or post so many damn things that I can’t possibly wade through them all in a given day.
It’s not a planned thing, this unplugging. It always happens when I have gotten to a point where I find myself getting pissed at the pablum, to the extent that I am ranting and raving at the screen of my laptop. I slam it shut and let it sit there for days. Sometimes weeks or months (except the email. I have to hit the email)
August 26th, 2010 at 7:48 am
“I hunger for substance. I hunger for connection. I hunger for community. ”
YES!
Especially substance.
I’m reading The Four Hour Workweek right now and he talks about going on an information diet. I went through my RSS reader and got rid of anything that doesn’t inform, inspire, or encourage me. *shrug* It’s a start.
August 26th, 2010 at 8:58 am
That’s so weird that you say that about TV because that’s the exact way I’ve been feeling but hadn’t been able to put a finger on it. I can’t stand TV now (well, except for Mad Men and a few other shows). It’s like too much of a bad thing–they keep riffing on already stupid shows and producing clones. I mean, how interesting was it to watch a mean chef yell at underlings one time…now there are 50 imitation shows of that? The whole thing just makes me wish we could get rid of TV all together–but no way would my husband have that!
I’ve dialed my online stuff back slightly for summer, and even find myself thinking about a possible career change…do I really want a career (community & social media manager) that keeps me tied to the internet 24/7?
Thanks for a great read–nice to know I’m not the only one having a hard time finding substance these days.
September 1st, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Funny that I should read this as I’ve just realized that I am incapable of doing just 1 thing anymore… I watch TV while I’m on the laptop… I make calls when I drive… I text from movies… it’s crazy and causing me to only take in about a 1/3 of what I am actually trying to see or do.
I’m working on it.
September 6th, 2010 at 11:13 pm
I’ve given up on Twitter. It know it’s where everything’s happening, but personally, it moves too fast for me and stresses me out. I use FB to keep in touch with friends – and make plans to see them IRL. Beyond that, I try to always remind myself that just because information is there for the taking doesn’t mean I have to absorb it – definitely suffering from information overload sometimes!