While reading “The Information Diet” I was realizing that I am ‘overweight’ when it comes to accessing information. I constantly and consuming information during all hours of the day (except while sleeping). The Information Diet is like any good diet ...not fad. Everything is okay in moderation. We need to acknowledge where we get our information, where we go shopping. We need to pay attention to what it does to us, does it make us bloated and tired? We need to make sure we are reducing the negative, cut out the fried foods. We also need to know how to enhance the positive, adding in vegetables. I know that it has been said that there is no such thing as “information overload” however, at times I feel like I cannot handle any more information. I have realized that I am not necessary overloaded, I am fatigued, and I am not longer processing at that moment the information that is coming in, it is being stored to process later. I am hoping that over the next few weeks I will become a better information user rather than just and information eater.
You may some great comparisons of information to better food choices :) . I too have been trying to sort out "overload" with "overwhelmed". I think overwhelmed is more appropriate because of how I feel: tired and feeling that it is too much. I know we have more information that we can possibly consume - but I make the choice to "not partake". I do my share of FB scrolling and posting but make a choice to only do a little Twitter. It overwhelms me and takes up too much of my time. I like in the book where the "diet" idea comes in to re-think moderation.
ReplyDeleteHi Jordyn. Great analogies to food. I started to think about assessing what is the good in my "diet" so I can focus on it. I wonder if you've evaluated the good vs bad in your diet. Like any good diet, allowing for "rewards" or "cheats" is valid (at least I think it is...cold turkey is way too hard). Have you considered a schedule that allows you to feed yourself the good more often, and "cheat" at specified times in your day? Sometimes I feel like we need an adult lock or timer on some of our apps...similar to how we treat children. Just a thought. :)
ReplyDeleteJordan, just like you I often feel overwhelmed or fatigued about all the information that is available for us. For the past few years, I have really started looking at the labels on the food I eat. Things I thought were healthy turn out to be less healthy than I thought, usually due to math trickery with the serving sizes or something along those lines. Maybe we could all have a healthier information diet if there were nutrition labels on all the media out there. Facebook: serving size = 10 minutes, useful information = 20%
ReplyDeleteHi Jordyn,
ReplyDeleteI liked your analogies you used with food. I am feeling overwhelmed at this moment. After parent/teacher conferences I found out today that I am getting a student from another teacher's class who is a challenge. Due to stress I ate my way through today but know I have to get back on track tomorrow. All of the information we consume daily definitely needs to be cut back. I am trying to read my books for this class in the morning rather than check FB, Snapchat, Instagram and email. I stopped watching the news each morning since something they broadcast mostly negative things. I need more positive in my life and so do some of my students. It is so easy to find ways to escape every day life with something on the computer. We need healthier information diets and now is the time to start.