How can an Individual Avoid Information Overload?

After finding out what information overload meant and how it caused stress to individuals, I then wanted to learn how an individual could avoid information overload and the stress that comes with it. An article that I found stated that there are things that an individual can do to have a more productive workday and avoid information overload. The article mapped out ten tips to achieve just this. The ten tips consist of:

1. Define a Workspace- Avoid communicating, only do work in this area.
2. Centralize Communications- Use one means of communication so you dont get distracted.
3. Avoid Immediate Responses- Avoid responding to email's and IM's immediately. Set aside a time to do this.
4. Spend Time with People- Set aside time with colleagues everyday you're more likely to not get interrupted.
5. Take a Break- Unwind and realign your focus.
6.Try Disconnecting- Silence phones etc. to reduce distractions
7. Cut the News- Focus more on getting work done than trying to figure out what is going on around you.
8. Most Important Tasks First, Everyday- Start with the bulk and get done faster and more efficiently.
9. Why Am I Doing This?- Knowing why you are completing a task at work will help motivate an individual.
10. Keep a Consistent Schedule- This will break some of your distractions.

As you can see, information overload can be avoided. I feel that this article was reliable and helpful because some people have the same questions as myself, and do not know how they can avoid stress at the workplace. I feel that this article states ten realiable steps that any individual can follow and grasp onto.

My thought process for coming up with this answer consisted of steps. I first came up with the question, "How can an Individual Avoid Information Overload? Then I went to Google Search and the article that I used to answer my question was the first choice. The article answered my question completely and the link that I used was: http://www.bytes.com/topic/management/insights/836461-10-tips-avoid-information-overload-work.

What is Information Overload?

 What exactly does information overload mean? This question has crossed my mind ever since I got assigned with this blog. When I started searching for what information overload means, I found a variety of answers for my question. According to http://www.wikipedia.org/, information overload can be referred to as the difficulty a person can have understanding an issue and making decisions that can be caused by the presence of too much information. Also, on http://www.businessdictionary.com/, it states the following for what the word infomation overload means: "Stress induced by reception of more information than is necessary to make a decision (or that can be understood and digested in the time available) and by attempts to deal with it with outdated time management practices."

So what exactly does this mean? The way that I interpretted these answers was that whenever a person accumulates more informatin than they can handle or have time for, this can result in negative emotions such as stress. To me, information overload is not good on an individual because who wants to be stressed out? I know I don't!

The thought process that I used to get my answers for my question consisted of steps. First, I went to Google and I typed in, "What is Information Overload?" The second search result that was listed was from http://www.wikipedia.org/ and that is where I got one of my answers. I then checked the references at the bottom of the page to make sure that the information that I obtained was accurate and it all checked out. After this, I then wanted to find another definition and see how other websites compared to wikipedia so I found the next search option which was http://www.businessdictionary.com/. From the two sites, I basically got the same answer to my question just in different ways of saying it. I feel that with the two links that I used that I found reliable information to back up my question and that my question was answered thoroughly. The two links that I used were:  http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/information-overload.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_overload.

What are the United States and EU Privacy Laws?

The EU Privacy Law was passed in March of '06. This directive legally requires all Internet and telephone service providers to keep record of communication data for two years. Telephone providers record: the telephone number, the name and address of registered users, whether it was a phone call or a text message etc, and the location of both users. Internet service providers record the userID, the date and time of log-on and log-off, and even the phone number for dial up access.

As stated in my previous blog, the United States Privacy Law helps protect individuals from infringment from the government. There are problems with the American Privacy Law. The Georgetown Law Journal stated the following:

• More broadly, since American privacy law often remains focused around individualistic conceptions of privacy, it has not fully embraced protecting confidentiality in relationships. In many other contexts, such as trade secrets and business confidences, American law readily provides remedies against unwarranted breaches of trust. But in the domain of privacy, American law has not progressed nearly as far as English law in recognizing and protecting trust in relationships. An increased recognition of a confidentiality-based conception of privacy might also have significant implications in other areas of American privacy law that developed under the influence of Warren and Brandeis. [7] (Richards, Neil M. and Solove, Daniel J., "Privacy's Other Path: Recovering the Law of Confidentiality" . Georgetown Law Journal, 2007 Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=969495)

Reflection: I wanted to find out more information about the EU Privacy Law and the U.S. Privacy Law. I did not know exactly what each law protected individuals from but the link: http://youthandmedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_EU_Privacy_Laws, answered all of my questions. Also, when I read the abstract from the Georgetown Law Journal, if there are problems with the American privacy law then what can people actually rely on so their information is not leaked out to the public? I feel like there needs to be changes done to this law before an individual like myself can feel 100% protected.

What is Digital Privacy / Anonymity?

According to an article titled, "Digital Privacy," on http://www/youthandmedia.org, the term digital privacy cannot really be defined because it is on-going and relative. What does this mean? A person could define digital privacy alot differently in the Colonial times than say a person did today. Who exactly does digital privacy protect? The article stated that privacy protection can be broken down to include protection from: Government, (The U.S. Privacy law protects individuals from infringement by the government,) Service Provides like Google and Facebook, privacy from schools and teachers, and privacy from employers, health insurers, neighbors, etc.

Digital Privacy also protects people from having their pictures taken without their permission and being circulated on the Internet. In this article, it talked about how in 2006, there was an incident that took place on a bus between two men and the incident was recorded by a fellow passenger. In May 2006, this video became the most popular video. Incidents like this happen all of the time but what happened to digital privacy? I thought that we were supposed to be protected from these types of incidents as individuals.

Think about this! How much information is out there on the Internet about yourself? There are websites like Topix, where people start forums about you and its anonymous. What does this mean? When someone posts items on Topix about an individual that person has no idea who it was because you don't have to include a name. On Facebook, you are supposed to be protected from hackers because profiles are supposed to be private, but what about the people who get past this and still get all of your information?

Reflection: I have never really thought about this issue until it was assigned to me. After I started doing the research it all started to add up to me and most of the questions that have been crossing my mind were getting answered. For example, does anybody really know everything that there is out on the Internet about themselves? This is a scary issue. I feel like as individuals we should be protected more than what we are and this issue would seize. I found all of my information for this blog on, http://youthandmedia.org/wiki/Category:Digital_Privacy.