Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Too Much Information!

by Kris Pitcher

I read an interesting headline on yahoo "news" that sparked my interest for a moment. It was something to the effect that I might be vacuuming incorrectly. Cue sound of crickets...

Now, you frequent Blissers know about my recent memory lapse regarding vacuuming. For a moment I considered clicking on the full story. Then I thought - if I'm vacuuming at all it's not wrong. Period. Let's not be alarmist here.

And that's the thing about constant access to all kinds of important and random information, you need to be able to filter out what might be important to you. And what likely will be a waste of your precious time. Is it possible there is a better way to vacuum? Yes, absolutely. Am I worried about it. Not in the slightest.

Filtering information about health is similar. We are bombarded with information. Your doctor is rolling their eyes at you because you've self diagnosed via the internet and you are sitting on the exam table with your list of diseases you'd like them to treat that day. I'm not sure if it's possible...but we may have too much information.

Being a lover of knowledge that is a strange thing to say. And maybe a better way to look at it is we are susceptible to misinformation at a faster rate than ever. Compound that with our belief that everything in print is true, and we are in trouble.

We don't need to frantically be assessing our vacuuming skills. Being able to pick and choose information requires you to use your brain, consider the source and ask questions.

There will always be a new trend, gimmick, or scam waiting for people worried about their ability to confidently vacuum. The nice thing is solid science doesn't change, and I'm OK with the way I vacuum.

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