Is information overload a big problem nowadays? Do we really need to know everything?

Eleonora Ilyasova

Is information overload a big problem nowadays? Do we really need to know everything?

Not so long time ago people could not get information they need. Especially it concerned soviet society. All information was limited. Today the situation has changed. Mass media contain a lot of information. On the one hand we can get information about everything that we want, but on the other hand is it good for us to know everything?

Information surrounds us everywhere: in newspapers, in transport, at the street. We do not notice how all this information have an influence on us. For example, when we go to the super market we will buy that products which are advertised. Flacks have already chosen everything for us. We can only go and buy it.

Let’s see into mass media. What kind of information do they provide us? In many cases it is information with negative connotation. From screens we see a lot of violence, accidents, crashes. It seems to be that there is no any positive information in the hole world. Of course, it is necessary to know the situation in the world. But when from day to day you get only such kind of information our state of mind can’t survive. Why should I know about car accident in some African country? Nowadays the word “news” became the synonym of the word “accident”.

There is a saying: “Who owns the information, owns the word”. But should we own all information surrounding us? The only way in that situation is to filter everything.