Information Overload and Internet Forums, How the Internet is Destroying the Way We Socialize Options

[*mipadi*]

I have a confession to make: The last time I went on a long trip, I took my
laptop with me.

Yes, that's right; even on a trip to Florida, I was still enamored of my
"connection" to the world that I brought my laptop. I was staying in a condo,
and I was so desperate for information that I piggybacked off another
occupant's wireless network.

I'd like to think that I'm alone, but the prevalence of technology, especially
personal communications devices, in our society, makes me feel as thought I'm
not.

Look around: It's hard to find someone without a cell phone. It's hard to go
to a café and not see a bunch of open laptops. And our obsession with sites
like MySpace and Facebook show how much we clamor for even the tiniest bits
of information about our friends, coworkers, and yes, even enemies.

I go to a café at my university a lot. I'm sometimes amazed how often I see
groups of two or three friends sitting around a table, laptops open,
headphones on -- not talking to each other. I must admit I am guilty of
this as well.

And I often wonder how it's affecting our society.

My interest in Internet-based communications first grew out of my obsession
with Internet forums. Once upon a time, I visited at least a dozen forums
a day; I'm proud to say that number is now down to three, and one of them
is a software development forum and thus not very social in nature. I
noticed a common trend on Internet forums: People bicker and argue and never
really seem to get anywhere. Why is that?

The Internet is a very impersonal form of communication. It's easy to miss
tone and emotion, and such information is completely devoid of body
language -- elements that are crucial to human communication, especially when
things like sarcasm and irony are involved. Furthermore, Internet
communications -- e.g., forum posts -- are often given only a cursory glance.
(Evidence? I bet only a few people are going to read this entire essay.)

Furthermore, forums are often devoid of any real content. Look at CB, for
example: Some of today's active threads include a topic on which CB members
you keep in regular contact with (why do I care who you talk to?); "How are
you feeling?" (do I really care how most members are feeling?); and "What
are you eating/drinking right now?" (self-explanatory why this thread
is pointless). It's a common criticism that truly intelligent posts on CB
quickly disappear.

This, my friends, is "information overload".

I'm certainly no stranger to information overload. I used to be addicted to
blogs; at my peak, I was checking several dozen RSS feeds a day. On an
average day, I probably got several hundred pieces of news, which I insisted
on removing from my news feeder by hand. I'm proud to say I've now narrowed
that down to only a handful of vital news feeds.

I read an essay today called something like "Informed to Death". I have
neither the title nor author handy, but the gist is that, on the average day,
we come into contact with so much information that we are paralyzed by it;
we cannot act on it, because we simply cannot make sense of it. Our world,
as a result, has become disordered and chaotic.

The author cites the example of medieval Europe. Medieval Europe was very
ordered; rightly or wrongly, most people were spiritual, and believed that
they were the special creation of a god looking down upon them from the
heavens. That specific case of order was destroyed by astronomers who
discovered that the Earth was not in fact the center of the universe; we
were not special, but rather, just another insignificant planet. Our world
was forever changed.

I am not condemning science, but rather, showing that our over-reliance on
information, our strive to "always be connected", is in fact tearing us
apart -- from ourselves, each other, and the world. We're losing our ability
to process information. Our world is becoming chaotic, and we're not able
to make sense of it.

Part of the problem, I feel, is in the nature of personal computing, which
is unnatural and confining. We're tethered to desks. But people don't want
that; sales of mobile phones and laptops demonstrate that we want to be
free.

The Apple iPhone is part of my recent inspiration. It is, in many ways, a
computer in a phone-sized package. I feel this is the direction that
technology must take: We have to move away from bulky devices that deliver
entirely too much information, to small devices that set us free, let us
interact with other people, with friends and colleagues, with our physical
world, while still allowing us some of the connectivity to information which
we have come to enjoy and even rely on.

No, I'm not promoting the iPhone specifically; it's primitive compared to what
I envision. Technology still has a long way to go, especially in the area of
display devices, whose resolutions are "fuzzy" compared to our vision. But
the building blocks are already in place. Computers are becoming untethered.
Computers are moving from computation devices to personal communications
devices. Free wireless networks are springing up in major cities.

Imagine a world where your life is in your pocket, but you're not bound by
such technology; rather, the technnology encourages you to share yourself
with others and the rest of the world. A world where we're not bombarded with
information; where we don't use thoughtless information consumption as a
substitute for human interaction, creativity, and discovery.

We are at a crucial juncture in technological development: Will we rule
technology, or let it rule us? I hope, for humanity's sake, that we choose
to be the masters of technology, and not the other way around.