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| Information Overload | | | Information Addiction |
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Information overload may have crept up on us almost without our realising it,
but there is no doubt that it is now a major problem. Surveys highlight a number
of stress-related illnesses and the increasing pressure felt by individuals as
they grapple with the torrent of information they need to carry out their jobs.
The cost to business is colossal. Stress
and tension induced by information overload in the workplace can cause sufferers
to procrastinate, waste time, delay important business decisions, and become
distracted from their main job responsibilities.
| • Almost half of employees in Europe admit
to often finding themselves looking for information that should be easy
to find. • As many as 60% spend an hour or more a day duplicating the work of other employees. European Business Connection Survey 1997, Novell |
A tremendous price is also being paid by people in their personal lives. The problem of coping with the information deluge is damaging their personal relationships and eroding their leisure. Many feel trapped in a vicious circle of having to stay late at the office or bring work home in the evenings and weekends. They have less time to spend with friends and family, or to relax.
Dying for Information? An Investigation into Information Overload in the UK and Worldwide - a Reuters report Published by Reuters in 1996, Dying for Information? An Investigation into Information Overload in the UK and Worldwide is the most extensive and comprehensive study of information overload that has ever been conducted. It incorporates a survey of 1,300 managers from five continents, and investigates the phenomenon of information overload and the scale of the problem.
| Other research • Large companies will need to store 400 terabytes (trillion bytes) of data by the year 2000. Unisys • Forty-three percent of employees agree that there is too much duplication of effort in accessing and distributing information internally. • Almost half of employees across Europe believe that there is not enough knowledge sharing in their companies. European Business Connection Survey 1997, Novell |
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Information Overload | Information Addiction