INFORMATION OVERLOAD
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1684 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Human sciences |
Any input of data which exceeds the integration and interpretation capability of a human brain.
While communication overload occurs in transmission systems as for example telephone nets or streets, information overload is a material (see R. WURMAN, 1989), but also, according to W. REEVES, a psycho-social phenomenon. Everywhere: “…the multiplicity of papers, periodicals, mail, notes, memos and videos … inundates our daily lives and numbs our critical thinking processes” (1992).
It occurs, writes K. DEUTSCH “within the minds and nervous systems of people…” and “The wider the range of relevant choices we put before a person of limited physical and psychic resources and capabilities, the more acute and pressing we make his problem of economy in allocating his own time, attention and resources” (1961, p.96).
Information overload is rapidly becoming a critical issue, because it interferes with the management of complexity (of which it is an important aspect in itself). REEVES contends “that the information explosion is a tremendous obscuring force for the the cognitive process within our society” (1992, p.95).
As an antidote for information overload in situations where the flow of information exceeds processing capacity, J. WARFIELD proposes his law of requisite parsimony.
See also
Christmas tree effect