Walking the Information Overload Tightrope

This chapter asks: What is information overload? At what levels of existence does it occur? Are there any features common to information overload at all these levels? What are information overload’s types? What are information overload’s current and future trends? What problems do they pose? How can they be addressed in both effective and morally justified ways? It argues that there is anarchy concerning the meaning of information overload, that information overload’s precise characterization is best left open at this stage in the inquiry, that information overload occurs at the biological, psychological, and social levels, that it is relational, that there are at least two overall types of information overload—quantitative and semantic— involving various kinds and current and likely future trends which pose problems requiring specific ways of dealing with them. The essay closes outlining how to identify effective and morally justified ways of dealing with information overload. INFORMATION AND INFORMATION OVERLOAD T.S. Eliot’s once asked “Where is the wisdom lost in knowledge and where is the knowledge lost in information?” (Eliot, 1952, p. 96). This essay is written in the spirit of Eliot’s question. I will address a particular way in which knowledge, wisdom, and much more can be lost in information, namely, information overload. I will ask: What is information overload? At what levels of existence does it occur? Are there any features common to information overload at all these levels? What are A. Pablo Iannone Central Connecticut State University, USA Walking the Information Overload Tightrope DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-818-7.ch7.3