Anyone else feel overwhelmed by the "Information Age"?

Question

It seems like the more I learn, the less I know. How do you keep up with all the new information and ideas coming at you everyday? And do you ever feel like you are addicted to looking for more and more details?

Answer 1

Of course there is a lot of information out there and more often then not it is too much for me to handle. I have a subscription to Popular Science and I feel guilty if I don't read it cover to cover.

However, on the Internet I can be more discriminating. I use My Yahoo as my home page and read the articles and stories from it, if they peak my interest. Since they are free I can ignore them as I want. Then I specialize in my areas of interest space sciene and technology. Sure I don't know the latest information on computers and a lot of other stuff, but I don't work on computers, I am a computer user.

It has already started in a small way, but soon the information will not be as important as knowing how to find it. For example I remember this rhyme; "Columbus sailed across the ocean blue in 1942, and he did it again 1943 he, he!" But, that's only his half of his voyages to the new world. I go on Wikipedia and look up Columbus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus) and I not only find out when he made the other to voyages, but I find little maps of where he went.

I had to memorize the dates when I was in elementary school, but I have long since forgotten the last two dates and now I don't need to remember.

The most critical skill in the future will be knowing how to find the information. You can go to the Internet and research any historical subject in a few minutes and compose a report on it.

Knowing how to use Google, Yahoo and other search engines is more important in knowing that Betsy Ross sewed the first flag for the United States. I can look up each state and find their flags, their capitals, and then I can look up the US Flag and learn its history. In the time it takes me to phrase the question; "What is the state capitol of Texas." I have the capitol, the flag, the state bird and some history on it.

So get over your addiction to information, it is impossible to know or learn it all. You feeling of being unable to cope is a common one. Professors say that throughout their carrier they have learned more and more about less and less. Another words they specialize. One man can’t know all about all the millions of species of insects, they learn a lot about them and then specialize in the ones that interest them the most like; beetles or ants and termites; and so on.

So learn what you are interested in and find out a good site that specializes in that information and then figure out how to search that site. Then you will have the specialized information that you need to know. To get your general news watch the TV news I watch the local and national news, but I only spend an hour on it each night. If I find something that interests me then I can go onto the Internet and research if further.

Answer 2

Yep, too, overwhelmed as a matter of the fact especially when white collars workers are feeling exactly the same way, they would pass the buck down to the blue collar workers with an excuse that they (blue collar workers) get paid more. Good enough, yes?

Answer 3

I feel the same way. It's too overwhelming. I've found myself writing everything I learn in a notebook and saving the notebook.

Answer 4

No. Hitler burned books . Knowledge is a good thing . Don't listen to Hillary Clinton , who , with the democrats , are trying to stifle our information with control of what we are ALLOWED to find out - until all we know is what they want us to know..like Hitler .

Answer 5

Yes, it is daunting at times. We can't know everything. Go with the flow.

Answer 6

yah