Sea of Electronic Data

Information Overload by DeaPeaJay on flickr

Some days, I feel like I’m being swept away in a sea of information, on the verge of being submerged under it all. These are the days when my google reader is too full to show it’s true count, I haven’t been on ning in days, I’ve tuned in to Twitter only sporadically, I haven’t read most of my new mail messages, I haven’t checked out new resources in my diigo and delicious network, and I have no idea what’s happening in the world. How do I ground myself?

I take a break. I could drive myself mad trying to do it all, but there are other important things: a thirty meeting walk along the walking trails, visiting a friend, going out for dinner and having face to face conversations, planning a vacation, playing words with friends, calling family, reading a book, cleaning my home, dancing, singing with my iPod, cooking, baking, having a facial. Some of these don’t seem so important (your list probably looks very different) but they are crucial to my sanity, to my health (mental and physical), and to my goal of balance.

I used to be caught up in this cycle of spending more and more time online to manage to catch up on all the things that I’m missing. I’d spend more and more time online, sacrificing other activities and sleep to get caught up. I feel the tug sometimes and must stop and remember my values, my beliefs to remain grounded.

I’ve discovered the futility of nonstop immersion in this sea, and honed relevant skills like skimming, discarding, bookmaking and annotating. I’ve developed trust in my network, knowing who has what skills and knowing that I can ask one of these experts for help when stuck. I don’t need to know everything. I don’t need to save everything. It’s more useful to carefully construct my network, and get to know the people and the (management/pathway) tools better so that I can effectively and efficiently find what I want when I need it.

I don’t mean to mislead you. I still catalog links to share with colleagues and I spend at least an hour interacting with my network every evening. But I recognize the value of balance and take time to distance myself from my electronic devices and the sea of information to enjoy the other aspects of life, the other activities that I value.