Too Much: Information, Choices, Effects

       If brains themselves could communicate, they would be flashing [information overload], right? In modern technology, there is tons of information circulating at rapid speeds, too much for one person to process at once. However, this is not a new issue. Clay Shirky, from the video “Filter Failure,” explains “information overload” started with the printing press. After the printing press, there are more books anyone can read in a lifetime: “an excess of incoming information.” Dictionary.com defines this as “information overload.” However, there was filtration for quality, by the publisher of the book. As mass media has developed, the cost to produce information has decreased, so the demand to filter is overlooked in terms of economics. Shirky states old filters cannot be just be updated to tackle information from media because the structure for information has changed. 
       Personal life is almost gone, as Shirky words it. On social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, intimate interactions are public. The failure to filter occurs both way, information coming in and information going out. Facebook and Twitter have privacy settings, but people are not used to using them. Time is not spent on effectively using the existing tools. The concern may not simply be “filter failure” but also the failure to distinguish, for the individual to distinguish what information he or she deems as “important.” Tools can be used to help filter the flow of information, but there will be leaks. Email often misses spam mail here and there, and it is up to the individual to continue the filtration process.  One can view social media sites as too much unimportant information, tweets and posts constantly popping up. On the other hand they can be used to relay news to the world or gather facts. Traffic notifications on Twitter become valuable, as they are able to quickly adjust with the ever-changing traffic. To Tracey Gaughran-Perez, a full-time blogger, “Twitter is about following these tiny snapshots of people's day-to-day lives. And that's boring and tiresome only if you pick the wrong people to follow.” It is like a journal of daily events, conversations all saved on a database, as Joab Jackson describes in his article “Overload Everything.” It can be seen as a fascinating collection of facts. People decide what is put up and should decide what is taken in. 

       Brain has corrected the error: [filter failure].