Surviving in an Age of Constant Information
Don’t just provide audiences with information. Provide meaning!
Our industry has long talked about the surfeit of messages. We’ve posed the question of how to “break through” a “cluttered” public space to reach target audiences. And we’ve devised all sorts of strategies, both content and media, to do exactly that. Here’s the thing: The problem of information overload has gotten worse as of late, and we may be nearing a breaking point.
Consider this:
- In this year’s Digital Lifestyle survey, 72% of respondents
characterized the data coming at them as “’a roaring river,’ ‘a flood,’ or ‘a massive tidal wave.” Large percentages reported missing important news, failing to answer all their emails, or ignoring family and friends because of information overload. As a writer for Fast Company reported: “It seems people have reached their capacity to manage data, impacting family, friends, productivity, and even sleep. Algorithmic solutions will in fact expand the problem, creating more undifferentiated data.” - Medical professionals are noting the health consequences of too much information. Wellness guru Dr. Andrew Weil has hypothesized a link between information overload and “epidemic depression,” citing a 2005 study that “found associations between heavy communications technology use and ‘prolonged stress,’ sleep disturbances and depressive symptoms in young adults.”
- Excessive information is now thought to have wider social costs, such as a degradation of romantic relationships leading to divorce.
- A Canadian survey found that about half of executives (45%) claimed to be “overwhelmed by information,” with the situation worsening year-over-year in the academic and education sectors.
Culturally, the general phenomenon of excess is having its moment. An arts project featured in the New York Times this past month explored the subversive potential of purposeful information overload. The artist, a suspect questioned by the FBI on suspicion of terrorist activity, turned the tables on authorities, deluging them in so much information that the information became useless. More generally, our awareness of excessive information parallels national discourses on obesity and out-of-control government and personal debt. In these tough times, we’re plagued by plenitude.
Why is information becoming such a problem? It isn’t simply the sheer proliferation of email, social media, and smart phones, but the culture underlying these technologies. Individuals now have a power to brand themselves on par with that possessed by large corporations. “Generation Sell,” as the New York Times has dubbed it. As a result, we’re now confronted not merely with a few corporate brands, but thousands of micro-brands, all vying for our attention, 24 hours a day. And we feel compelled to brand ourselves even more intensely, so that we stand out in an already crowded mental space.
What should communication professionals do? We can start by practicing proper “information hygiene” in our personal lives—taking steps such as filtering our media intake or limiting technology usage so that we manage data better and achieve more happiness and balance. Professionally, we should re-dedicate ourselves to being smarter in how we “speak” to target audiences, including face-to-face conversation. Let’s make sure we have something relevant to communicate rather than firing off that email or that tweet for the mere sake of it.
Let’s also be sensitive to how different audiences think about information usage (e.g. younger audiences seem more comfortable with short, SMS-style conversations, whereas older audiences lean more toward longer messaging). Also, when possible we should continue to deploy visual techniques that enhance meaning and reduce clutter.
Finally, we should use measurement tools to figure out what information specific audiences find most relevant. I often talk about how critical evaluation and measurement are in the whole communications process. Most recently, many of the industry award entries I’ve reviewed suggest how good program evaluations are now about moving communications beyond simple media impressions to sales and engagement.
While we don’t yet live in Dr. Weil’s Useful Information Age, there’s still hope.
As one observer has remarked, “Information is cheap, but meaning is expensive.” In crafting strategies and specific executions, we would do best by our clients to provide them with as much meaning as possible, and as little information.
- In: information
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