In an earlier post, my review of The Circle, I referred to the book "The Information Diet" by Clay Johnson. This is another book I reviewed for Managementboek.nl, about a year ago (review in Dutch). It relates to one of my topics of interests, information overload, which I studied years ago at Telematica Instituut with a few companies. The topic still has my interest and sometimes I wonder how much has changed over the years (not much, I guess).
Recently, information overload came up in my conversations with the owner and founder of GoalRecorder, a Waterloo start-up company that recently launched its product. GoalRecorder deals with productivity by aligning activities of employees with company goals. Information overload results in a lack of productivity and I can see a link with goals as well (with a clear goals, it's easier to filter information).
Therefore, my translation of the review in Dutch here. The book I read was translated into the Dutch, so my translation back into the English could result in picking different words than the book uses.
My review of "The Information Diet" by Clay Johnson, as published in Dutch at Managementboek.nl.
How healthy is your lifestyle? You eat healthy, move regularly and don't smoke. Have you however looked at your information diet as well? You read it correctly: your information diet. Each day, you consume a large amount of information, but have you considered how healthy or unhealthy your information consumption is? This question is the core of "The Information Diet" by Clay Johnson. The good news is that you can start changing your information diet today!
Clay Johnson noticed in his work, he was responsible for several political campaigns, that many people have an disturbed image of reality. Initially, he thought that it was caused by lack of information about the topic. This appeared not to be true, providing them with more information didn't correct the image.
People, and so do you, absorb information selectively. Often it is a confirmation of the ideas they already have. Next to that, most people prefer information that is easy to digest. Johson compares this behaviour with eating unhealthy fast food and the preference we have for sweet and fat food. Maybe it's time for an information diet! To start, it's good to realise that you have a choice. You don't necessarily need to consume less information (as the word 'diet' might suggest), but different information.
New technologies are often blamed for issues like information overload. Clay Johnson claims that the fault is not with the technology but with providers and consumers of the information offered through technology. Information overload does not exist; your own information habits give you an unpleasant feeling. Most information channels provide the 'news' that get the highest number of clicks on the website. Personalisation technology, that provide you information based on earlier behaviour, emphasises our selective preference for certain information. Some parties benefit from distributing information that shows only one side of the coin, like in discussions about climate change. And, how independent is research sponsored by industry?
Johson gives us many reasons to aim for a heathier information selection. How can you do that? The elements of an information diet, according to Johnson, are: information literacy, sense of humour and a method to train our attention span.
The information skills you need are the following: searching, filtering, sorting and processing of informatoin. Go back to the source as much as you can and consume local information (compared to global), advises Johnson. Laughing is a healthy part of the diet too. The final element of the information diet takes a bit more time and requires gradual building up. The principle: start your work without scanning internet or email for a certain time and then you take a break where you are allowed to browse whatever you want. Gradually increase the time of the working blocks, so you learn to concentrate and don't let yourself distract by all kinds of information. What helps is to unsubscribe from many email distribution lists and become selective in the information you read.
Clay Johnson's intention is to make you aware of your information consumption. Not only that, he provides practical help to change your behaviour and become healthier. The comparison with food diet is a good one, because these days more and more people have become obese, which is often the result of (bad) food habits. Making conscious choices, whether it is about food or information, "The Information Diet" by Clay Johnson helps you with those choices.
My thoughts, learning from this book.
When I read this book, I thought: Yeah, I know this and I have good information literacy skills. Still, I think I can improve (and most of us can). I get distracted by all kinds of useless information. At the same time, I think I need this type of easy reading too, to relax. I read many books, non-fiction and fiction, but after reading a management book that needs all my attention, I relax with an easy book (category drama or chick-lit). As long as those easy consumption books and web pages don't take over too much of my time.
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