NO. 1 Informational Overload VS Filter Faliure

As information overload becomes more of an issue with the popularity and use of today's everyday electronics, people are beginning to question whether or not humans are evolving at the same pace as technology.  Nevertheless, is the problem of information overload solely a factor constructed by today’s evolving technology? Clay Shirky, an internet technologies consultant, would beg to differ. Shirky argues that the idea of informational overload is nothing new to society, but rather is something that occurs with each new development in the providing of information to society as a whole. That is, for example, books were once considered a source of informational overload as we have had more books than any human being could possibly read for years.  While it is not a new concept, informational overload is clearly a developing and worsening problem for many in today’s society.

According to Shirky, society should focus on a concept known as “filter failure.” The concept of filter failure, which I agree society should focus on, insinuates that the human system for managing and processing information abundance are overwhelmed by the constant, fast-paced growth of information. Further, to prevent filter failure individuals must create their own filters for managing and processing  information. Shirky suggests that each particular person needs to consider their preferences and decide what sources of information they find are high-quality and trustworthy. As reported by the Economist, this need for developing these filters for individuals has led the Xerox to begin working to develop better filtering and managing devices and Google to begin trying to filter online searches by considering personal preferences and needs.

However, when considering whether filter failure or information overload is a problem or the problem that we need to focus upon to improve society, I cannot help but to want to consider whether filter failure is a problem society can fix if the human mind is not evolving as much as technology.  Further, there is a segment of society that thrives and is fed by information overload, and is not bothered by the inherent problems associated with filter failures.  Nonetheless, I consider filter failure an issue society needs to focus upon because it is becoming abundantly clear that incorrect and false information is being disseminated through information overload and this false and incorrect information is being credence and credibility because it is being provided and spread on the Internet. 

Informational overload is complicated to resolve because there are millions of people producing new information and making it available on the internet and this is quickly spread with social outlets such as Twitter and Facebook.  As documented in the Economist’s “Too Much Information: How to Cope with Data Overload,” the amount of information stored on the Internet doubles every 18 months. As stated in “Overload #Everything,” professor Zeyenep Tufecki calls attention to “collapsing of boundaries” as Internet users do not realize how much access the public has to their social outlet profiles.

This burgeoning problem is only beginning to come to the attention of society and lawmakers.  The ramifications of the explosion in growth of and access to in information via the Internet is only just coming to light.  When these issues are attempted to be addressed, there are protests from people who argue that the idea of any legislative solutions are taking away their freedom of speech, as they did when Congress introduced a bill to provide better control of the content and privacy of the Internet including the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).  This is a problem in which is a complex one for society to understand and address. It will require both individual responsibility and societal changes to make sure the problems of information overload and filter failures are kept to a minimum and allow individuals and society to derive all the benefits that are available from the greater access to information available with the advances in technology that we see on an almost daily basis.