Turn Off, Tune Out, Drop In
Kathleen Parker's column reminded me of some
folks I know that in one way or another gave up some kind of technology during
Lent. We are a TMI culture and I found her assessment of our difficulty sorting
through the noise to real facts and good information insightful and an
observation I would tend to
affirm.
By Kathleen Parker | The
Washington Post | Wednesday, April 1, 2009 (free subscription
required)
What if everybody just took a timeout?
Now there's a concept for a TMI-addled
nation. It isn't only Too Much Information, but the pitch and tenor of delivery
that have us in a persistent state of psychic frenzy. From cable news to
microblogs to the latest -- "Fox Nation" -- life's background music has become
one prolonged car alarm.The market's up!
The Dow plunges! Obama fired the GM CEO! Greta's husband helped Palin!! OMG,
Obama's taking 500 people to Europe and Merkel doesn't like his new deal and
they're taking our assault weapons and we're all going to be
communists!TMI may indeed be the
despot's friend. Keep citizens so overwhelmed with data that they can't tell
what's important and eventually become incapable of responding to what is. Our
brains simply aren't wired to receive and process so much information in such a
compressed period.click here to read more
Filed Sun - April 5, 2009, 10:07 PM in
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