In the digital age information can be found with a click off the button, this can have good and bad sides.
The plus side is the luxury that if we are interested in a topic we can simply head over to google, type in our topic and start browsing. If you are good at this you can find almost anything about any topic. Reviews, personal experiences, books, courses, forums you name it. This opens up a whole new dimension in what we are able to learn and how we are able to grow from that information. Long gone are the days where we are just bound to the information given to us by our parents, school, local media. We are able to find information from perspectives from all over the world. Broaden your mind much??
How amazing as this sounds is there a minus side to all this?
In my own experience as somebody who loves to research all sorts of stuff I have found what I call “the drowning syndrome”. This is not an official syndrome I just like to make it sound more serious than it is. Drowning syndrome signifies that there is so much information available about subjects that you can be overwhelmed by it and potentially drown in it.
The internet is pretty much a place where everyone can say their share and be an authority on a subject. This leads to many different approaches, perspectives and opinions about the same subject. This can lead to confusion. Who is right? How do we know whose approach to follow?
I have been in situations when researching how to do something, I didn’t get to doing anything because the moment I was done reading or listening to someone I already found someone new to read about or too listen to.
Ways that I have found to deal with having access to so much information.
- Understanding that there are many roads leading to Rome, there are many truths, paths and ways to get to the same destination.
- Understanding that authorities on subjects are people too and are sharing their own personal perspective on a subject, that does not mean that their way is always suitable for our own personal situation just because they are an authority figure.
- Experimenting with different approaches and finding out what works for us through doing and experiencing.
- Hacking all of it and taking all the elements of different approaches that seem to work for us and putting it all together to create a new personalized method.
- Not waiting too long before taking action. A lot of times we keep researching because we feel afraid of making mistakes. Mistakes are part of the journey and will be there too learn and grow from.
Honestly I love the fact of the information age it gives so many possibilities like this very platform we’re writing on. I don’t see the overwhelming information as a bad side but I do see it as something to be aware of and something to learn to deal with.
Let me hear your take on this subject. How are you experiencing the information age? Can you relate? Drop a comment below.
If you liked my post don’t forget to give me an Upvote and a resteem.
Any feedback is highly appreciated.
image credits
image 1: http://www.thethingswesay.com
image 2: https://www.remaincomm.com
image 3: http://izquotes.com