Web Overload
The internet is a great thing. The greatest invention in the history of the earth. It allows us access to an infinite amount of information, the entirety of which no one person could ever know.
A problem, however, is that, given this infinite pool of information and knowledge, I often feel like I am drowning. I have read many times that the ability to prioritize and navigate information will be critical for people in the future to deal with all of it.
Personally, I haven't fully developed this ability yet, and sometimes I just get overloaded with the internet. I mean, when I finish a book, that's pretty much it. When I finish that last page, there is a finality there that says "I'm done." With the web however, each new page I visit brings up a million other questions and a million other pages. You look one thing up, and in that definition there are 10 more things to look up. You go to any blog, and there are links that lead to more links that lead to more links that lead to even more links. It doesn't end.
Just take all the things that are happening on the web right now: blogs, podcasts, web 2.0, flickr, del.icio.us, myspace, facebook, semantic web, RDF, attention economy, folksonomy, crowdsourcing, youtube, micromedia, search engine optimization, design thinking, social networks, memes, rss, dsflkasdjfsldfjl;sdkfjsdlfjsadflkjsadlfjsdlfjsadl;fjkss sdlfjksfjsadlfkjlasdld
MY HEAD IS GOING TO EXPLODE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Socrates said "I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing."
Until the internet, I don't think us humans could really grasp and feel how much there really is out there that we do not know. When we confront our ignorance, it is a difficult, scary, and overwhelming thing.
A problem, however, is that, given this infinite pool of information and knowledge, I often feel like I am drowning. I have read many times that the ability to prioritize and navigate information will be critical for people in the future to deal with all of it.
Personally, I haven't fully developed this ability yet, and sometimes I just get overloaded with the internet. I mean, when I finish a book, that's pretty much it. When I finish that last page, there is a finality there that says "I'm done." With the web however, each new page I visit brings up a million other questions and a million other pages. You look one thing up, and in that definition there are 10 more things to look up. You go to any blog, and there are links that lead to more links that lead to more links that lead to even more links. It doesn't end.
Just take all the things that are happening on the web right now: blogs, podcasts, web 2.0, flickr, del.icio.us, myspace, facebook, semantic web, RDF, attention economy, folksonomy, crowdsourcing, youtube, micromedia, search engine optimization, design thinking, social networks, memes, rss, dsflkasdjfsldfjl;sdkfjsdlfjsadflkjsadlfjsdlfjsadl;fjkss sdlfjksfjsadlfkjlasdld
MY HEAD IS GOING TO EXPLODE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Socrates said "I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing."
Until the internet, I don't think us humans could really grasp and feel how much there really is out there that we do not know. When we confront our ignorance, it is a difficult, scary, and overwhelming thing.
posted by jon at 10:00 PM
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