Too Much Information

First it was answering machines. Then it progressed to cell phones, email, and texting. The idea that we must be accessible 24/7 has quickly become accepted in our culture. But is it helpful? Is it even healthy?

My daughter is 25 years old and moves among a group of friends who maintain contact through texting one another all day. They are representative of many young people, often beginning as early as pre-teens. They work or go to school (often both), but the texting never stops, regardless of whether they are “on the clock” or in a classroom. Employers are naturally concerned about the level of inattention of their employees. Professors and other teachers have to contend with the same thing.

Also, the texts perpetuate drama and gossip that might have died a natural death without this constant stream of discussion.

It seems that personal relationships aren’t being strengthened, either, with this ability to maintain constant contact. I’ve seen young women become hypersensitive to the lack of an immediate return of a text message. They react as if their boyfriends don’t like them any more if their text isn’t returned immediately. The second guessing begins: “Is he with someone else? Why isn’t he answering me? What’s wrong?” This behavior is unrealistic and destructive to relationships; yet it is the norm among young people today.

On a larger scale we also see this with the ever-present media coverage of minutia relating to just about everything, even if it isn’t newsworthy. Do I really need to know what the President’s favorite cheeseburger is or how many cattle he has on his ranch? Or who the latest hot entertainer was seen with over the weekend? I can’t help but think our government would run more efficiently if allowed to churn in its own machinations without our knowing truly unimportant details along the way. Yes, in a democracy we need to be informed about our representatives and their political ideas and stances, but we don’t need to know what they wore or where they went to lunch with whom. This over-indulgence of media coverage lends itself to the creation of the news instead of merely reporting it.

It’s all simply too much information.