Morning Rush Hour
This is a reprint of a column I published on my old website back in July 2009. Keep the date in mind as you read this, because some of it’s history now. But there’s enough here of relevance today that it seems worth sharing for more than historical reasons.
When I decided to go into freelancing, one of the benefits was not having to deal with rush-hour commutes. That was in the days before I even started using e-mail, let alone got involved in online social media.
I work at home now, but despite the fact that I have a 10-second commute, my workday starts with a rush-hour. It doesn’t involve traveling or traffic. It’s a rush of communication instead.
I boot up my computer and start checking e-mails. I have no less than three accounts.
I boot up my computer and start checking e-mails. I have no less than three accounts. The first one I check is usually mostly spam, so that’s not much of a problem. Things get a bit thornier when I move on to the next account. This is the e-mail I use when signing up for things that may lead to later messages that I don’t necessarily want to read. (And I think we all know what I’m talking about here. Newsletters, sales pitches and other unsolicited mailings that come when you subscribe to something.) I get through these as rapidly as possible and move on to the third account, which I use for my most important business mailings-and I get a lot of them, so I’m pretty anxious to get through all the messages as fast as possible.
And so it begins. I delete the newsletters, sales pitches and obvious spam, then take a deep breath and plunge into what’s left.
I delete the newsletters, sales pitches and obvious spam, then take a deep breath and plunge into what’s left.
Got my news headline summaries, from the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, as well as news about writing and publishing and an environmental news update. I scroll down the headlines so fast, they barely have time to register, before I click on the button to delete. Problems in the Middle East-scroll, scroll-swine flu (not more of that!)-scroll, scroll-auto industry’s going down the toilet-scroll, scroll-real estate market may be making a comeback-scroll, scroll-arts, entertainment, opinions. Anything else? No? Click-next!
I scroll down the headlines so fast, they barely have time to register, before I click on the button to delete.
Then there are the notifications. I’m notified when someone comments on one of my blogs or posts something on Facebook, as well as when someone posts something in one of my LinkedIn groups. The group postings on LinkedIn are essentially more headline summaries. So I scroll through them-fast, fast, fast.
In addition, I’m on several email lists. I get them in digest form, of course. I skim the subject lines for a grabber. If it doesn’t grab me, I’m gone.
If it doesn’t grab me, I’m gone.
Now and then, there’s an e-mail I actually have to answer. If I think it will take less than five minutes, I’ll answer it right then and there. Anything longer than that will have to wait. Meanwhile, I’m moving on to the next item in the inbox. So I can get through that one as fast as possible, too.
Several articles and books have been written about information overload and the diminishing reader attention span (concepts that would seem to go hand-in-hand). Concerns about this problem have been raised in books like Data Smog: Surviving the Information Glut by David Shenk. [Whose website is no longer.] He claimed (and this was back in 1997-that’s more than 10 years ago, folks) that modern information sources were multiplying faster than we could process them, leading to “infoglut” and diminishing our quality of life. Somewhat ironically, this is discussed at more length-five Web pages worth-in an article [It was there the last time I looked back in ‘09.] on a book about how the brain works. (Of course, how ironic is it to write a book about excess information, anyway?)
When I was in library school (in the early 2000s), people were talking about this problem. Time management had always been an issue, but information management was becoming an even bigger issue.
The truth is time and information management are inseparable. Having information is only meaningful to the extent that you can process it, and processing information takes time.
Having information is only meaningful to the extent that you can process it, and processing information takes time.
That’s why I find it important to take the time to stop and take a closer look at things as I’m zooming down the information superhighway. Which is hard when you’re rushed. But who knows? The information superhighway may run through fields strewn with clutter, but among it you may find one or two perfect roses. And isn’t it important to stop and smell the roses, now and then?
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BTW, if you’re interested in the topic of how to handle info-overload, do check out this book!
In fact, here’s a review I posted of it on YouTube!
Originally published at http://randomandsundrythings.wordpress.com on September 3, 2021.
