Internet for beginners: Internet for Beginners: Understanding Information Overload

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Published December 08, 2008 by:Kel Stumic View Profile | Follow | Add to Favorites More:Information Overload PopupsYou turn on the computer and open your browser. This time you are determined to get something done on the Internet. You start with a simple task, but a snag appears. Then you decide to check your email while you think about how to fix it. Also, you take a peek at the news. Then there was that song you wanted to hear. You wonder what is happening on YouTube. The next thing you know a few hours have passed. You have gone on so many tangents you don't know how you got there. You are suddenly telling yourself, "Stop wasting time!"

Does that sound familiar? This is the curse of information overload.

For beginners who want to learn how to use the Internet productively, information overload is an extra harsh curse. It is paralysis by analysis. There are so many paths to take at once, beginners often get overwhelmed. In addition to the heap of programs they need to study, it seems like there are such an unending amount of scams, viruses, malware, technical gobbledygook, and on and on, that there is an organized conspiracy to keep them from learning. Can anyone blame them for giving up?

Information overload is tough to deal with. The good news is that information overload can be managed. But you have to know what it is, including its causes and effects, before you can do something about it.

Information overload is commonly understood as information instantaneously available in such an excessive quantity that it is impossible to absorb and process by any one person. This makes it hard for a person to evaluate what is valid or not, what is fact or misinformation, what works and what doesn't. Information overload can shut anyone down for doing tasks. Where there should be informed judgment and decision-making, a person instead feels stress, distraction, confusion and uncertainty.

A cute name that has entered the mainstream for information overload is information pollution.

Page:12 3 Next Page »Print Flag ClosejQuery('#flag_link').bind('click.ajaxload', function(){jQuery('#flag_response').load('/action_flag.shtml?flag_login=1&view_flag_menu=1&redir=%2Farticle%2F1257663%2Finternet_for_beginners_understanding.html');});Published by Kel StumicI am a writer and enthusiast of Internet marketing. I love finding fantastic bargains on products and services. View profile