Page 14 - The Indian EYE 101422

OP-ED OCTOBER 14, 2022 | The Indian Eye 14

The World Faces a Real Challenge

of Information Overload

For individuals, information overload can be a cause for anxiety and distress. If you use a fitness app,

tracking your movements can become an unhealthy obsession

SADHNA SHANKER

A
lot is said and written about
digital detox and digital
well-being, but the aspect of
data or information overload in our
lives is often not focused on. The term
‘information overload’ was coined by
Prof Bertram Gross of Hunter Col- A fascinating image sent by the telescope. Credit: NASA
lege, USA in 1964.
Today, anyone who has a smart
phone, lives in a hyper-connect- - as replicating information became to be fun’. ed and see every message and post
ed world. Apps on the phone, and easier information overload moved In the COVID pandemic as life leads to fatigue, disruption of sleep
wearables that track fitness, health, forward. Digitation of information, shifted online, the problem of over- patterns and anxiety.
finances, exposure to the sun or even which makes publishing possible at load become magnified. As per a So how to deal with it? Business-
sleep quality, generate data for us- the push of a button has taken the survey conducted by a private com- es are increasingly using AI to hyper
ers on a near continuous basis. The problem to another level. pany in 2021, more than 52% of the personalize data to deliver custom-
data that streams from these gadgets respondents said that their sources ized and meaningful information.
is often not understood or read cor- As per reports, the total amount of information had increased mani- For instance, instead of simply count-
rectly by users, or could be without of information created, cap- fold in the last five years. 44% of the ing calories, diet apps are promoting
any context. If you are using a fintech respondents felt that information mindful journaling of what you eat.
app, and the movement of markets tured, copied, and consumed overload had intensified during the Amazon is one of the early adopters
are not understood by you correctly, globally in 2010 was 2 zettabytes pandemic and added to their daily who built their entire ecosystem on
the data streaming from your device stress. hyper-personalization. Users land at
can cause unnecessary high levels of of data. This figure has grown At the workplace also, informa- unique homepages, receive accurate
anxiety. to 97 zettabytes today and is tion overload has negative conse- product recommendations, a seam-
Information and data are also quences. People have to access dif- less checkout experience etc.
streamed continuously on social me- expected to grow to 181 zetta- ferent email and user accounts, they As individuals, we all need to be
dia. News, views and information bytes by 2025. (One zettabyte need to remember different access mindful of the information overload
are flooding our lives, and often we passwords, often the information in our lives. Disable push notifica-
mindlessly consume the information, equals one trillion gigabytes). streaming on workplace sites does tions in your apps, mindfully allocate
and do not have the time or the in- not have direct correlation to their time to social media, try and be on
clination to process it. This leads to For individuals, information job. With hybrid working becoming only one device or platform at one
confusion and stress. overload can be a cause for anxi- the norm the stress multiplies. This time. Learn to ignore unnecessary
The problem is not new. It ety and distress. If you use a fitness often affects the timing and efficacy information. Further, don’t try and
started in 1450 with moveable type app, tracking your movements can of decision making. quantify everything in life – enjoy ac-
technology being brought in use by become an unhealthy obsession. As people switch apps, accounts, tivities without tracking outcomes!
Johannes Gutenberg, a German Research by Duke University found emails and messaging platforms on
printer. It led to a proliferation of that “enjoyable activities can be- a daily and regular basis, attention Sadhna Shanker is a writer based in
printed matter. Followed by carbon come almost like a job, by focusing spans are becoming smaller and New Delhi, India.
paper, cyclostyling and photocopying on the outcome of things that used smaller. The desire to remain updat- Email: [email protected]

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