By Peter Hallett
Published January 16, 2001
In case you are uniformed, misinformed or over-informed, we live in the information age.
Hadn’t noticed? Then consider this. An average week-day edition of a metropolitan daily newspaper contains more information than a person from the 17th century would be exposed to in a lifetime. So if you pick up such a paper and plan to read it, as well as watch some television, read your mail, answer the phone, check your email and surf the net, you are a million light-years from the information experience of all previous generations.
Each of us are exposed, on average, to a million advertising messages a year - that’s almost 3000 a day. And if you live in a mega-city like New York, that tally can rise up to 8,000 messages a day.
If you think it’s going to stop there - forget it. Automatic tellers will soon carry full video advertising messages on the screens which means every time you get money out you will probably see seven or eight ads on the screen…
And what about the software developers who urge you to download their free or cheap product of the internet but forget to tell you that by doing so, an ad for your website will be added to every email you send out.
It’s not just advertising that is cluttering our computers, desks and minds - information in general is the new currency of our age.
More information has been generated in the last decade than in the previous 5000 years and scientific information doubles every 12 years while general information doubles every 2½.
More than 1000 books are published every day. And while television took 13 years to notch up 50 million viewers, the internet took only four.
For all those net-surfers - in 1995 their were 31 million pages you could view. By the end of this year it is estimated there will be as many pages on the internet as there are inhabitants on our planet.
Is it any wonder that Thomas Hine defines a human being as "little more than a cloud of information."
Even though in our world information is power, value and often a key to great wealth, it’s sheer weight is also overwhelming and, at times, soul destroying. Sometimes information is vital, other times it is useless, trivial or simply wrong. And yet we are trained to hunger and thirst for more information as if our life depended on it.
The only answer is to take back control of cognitive input and learn to prioritise your information needs - taking time for those things high on your list, and making a guilt free decision to ignore less important or unimportant messages - no matter how compelling they are made to seem.
I have begun the process of setting myself a top 10 info hit list and have realised much of the information most important to my well-being and survival is not accessed by electronic means. Here’s some samples to get you started:
1. What is God saying today? If I don’t make time to get the latest word on life from the Creator, everything else will be a waste of time. If I’m too busy for Jesus to speak into my situation, I’m too busy to be free. Hearing from God involves being still, praying, listening, reading the Bible, worshipping, reflecting.
2. What is my spouse saying today? Have taken any notice of how she is feeling, the spoken and unspoken communication. Surely having an accurate gauge of her emotional and mental state is immeasurably more important than the latest free download or the price of NRMA stocks. This takes talking, listening, and giving undivided attention.
3. What are you saying to yourself today? We all spend a lot of time talking and thinking to ourselves. Have you taken stock of what you are saying? If you are constantly telling yourself negative or angry things, you need to take note of that information now. It says something about how you view yourself and life.
4. Where are your children and what are they watching, reading, listening, feeling? These should be obvious questions for parents but I think we all recognise that too often we do not have this information because we don’t make room for it. Your children and teenagers desperately need you to seek out these answers.
5. What are long-serving, trustworthy and intelligent leaders in my field of endeavour saying? If you are too threatened to find out, or too enamoured with the latest fad, you are missing information that will add growth to your life.
Notice the most sources of information relate to our inner world. Once we have taken care of those closest to us - including ourselves - we are ready to begin sensibly prioritising other outside sources. I’ll leave you to work on that. Have a information balanced 2001!
Wisdom’s Way: To guarantee saying something relevant, always say something eternal.