Information overload
FOR TEAHERS:
Overview
Students predict figures from a text on information management and read the text as preparation for a ranking exercise and follow-up discussion.
Preparation
One copy of the worksheet for each student.
Procedure
1) As a warmer, ask students how much information they have to handle on a daily basis. Ask if they think it’s too much and what can be done about it. Note down students’ ideas on the board.
2) Check/Pre-teach: to handle, to restrict, bombardment, to filter, distracted, thorough, to nurture, hierarchy.
3) Hand out copies of the worksheet to each student. Have them cover the text when doing exercise 1. Students complete the prediction exercise based on their own experience and then discuss with a partner.
4) Have students read the first paragraph of the text to check their answers to exercise 1. Ask if they were surprised by any of the figures. Students then read the rest of the text and compare their experiences with those described by the writer and with a partner/rest of the group.
5) Individually, students rank the six skills in order of usefulness/feasibility for dealing with information overload. They then work in pairs/small groups to compare rankings and discuss. Hold a short feedback session.
6) If appropriate, ask students to relate the skills to their learning of English and choose the most useful tips for managing the information they receive both inside and outside the classroom.
FOR STUDENTS:
1) How many of the following types of information/communication does a typical office worker
have to deal with daily? Discuss with a partner.
a) phone calls ______ e) inter-office memos ______
b) e-mails ______ f) faxes ______
c) voicemails ______ g) mobile phone calls ______
d) items of post ______
2) Read the first paragraph of the text and find the answers to 1. Do any of them surprise you? Then read the rest of the text. Which of the points in the text are most relevant to you. Discuss with a partner.
Another day in the office, which, according to one recent study, consists of handling 46 phone calls, 25 e-mails, 16 voicemails, 23 items of post, eight inter-office memos, 16 faxes and nine mobile phone calls.
Enough to send you crazy? You may be right. Gerry McGovern, who is writing a book on information overload, is in no doubt the huge quantity of information has led to increasing stress levels and results in a downturn in productivity.
‘I think that, to some degree, long-term or medium-term strategic thinking is being restricted by the necessity to react to the continual bombardment of short-term data,’ he says. ‘A lot of managers are spending so much of their time coping with the data that’s coming through today that they don’t have as much time as they should to properly analyse it and put it in perspective.’
Les Posen, a psychologist who has written numerous articles on technology and psychology, says information overload can lead to people losing control of what material is important and what isn’t. ‘Our filtering systems get overloaded, so the good stuff gets left out as much as the useless stuff, and we might find ourselves not able to easily differentiate between quality material and non-quality material,’ he says.
‘Someone who spends hours sorting e-mails and getting distracted by unimportant details may be suffering from information overload,’ Posen adds. Other signs include switching off completely. He says the key to avoiding information overload is to find a middle ground that recognises the importance of technology to our working and social lives while ensuring it doesn’t eat up all our time.
3) Gerry McGovern put forward a list of six skills for dealing with information overload. Rank the skills according to their degree of effectiveness (1 = most effective). Compare your ranking with the rest of your group/class.
Six skills to avoid information overload
a) Learn to think better. More decisions aren’t necessarily better decisions. You might make better decisions if you make fewer decisions.
b) Learn to plan better. Don’t simply react to short-term data. Make sure you are also thinking about the medium and long term.
c) Learn to research better. Be thorough about what you do. According to a survey conducted last year, only one in 20 people will scroll to the second page of search results.
d) Learn to organise better. Nurture the architect in you.
e) Learn to collaborate better. Work towards common goals. McGovern quotes author Frances Cairncross from his book The Company of the Future: ‘The most widespread revolution in the workplace will come from the rise in collaboration and the decline of hierarchy.’
f) Learn to network better. People are the network.
