General public, which is already in a miserable condition due to a stressful life further gets into tensions and worries due to such type of information. These reports present a very weird picture of what is happening around the world. All this creates an atmosphere of restlessness, anxiety, and depression among the general public (Kraut & Attewell).
Impacts of Information overload on Investors:
Investing in a particular asset, organization, or industry is such a decision which requires a comprehensive and careful analysis of the relevant facts and figures. Generally, investors look at the industry trends over the last few years in a view to anticipate the attractiveness and potential of their investment. Now-a-days, there are various sources through which they can obtain this information. But the problem arises when every source of information contradicts with all the others with respect to predictions and analysis. This thing creates a big confusion especially among those investors who are quite new in that industry or possess little knowledge of the industry patterns and trends.
Moreover, investment decisions cannot be made just by looking at the growth of market share of a particular organization; it requires a deep analysis and comparison of all industry competitors with each other as well as with the industry average. This analysis can only be done by taking relevant information from the annual reports and publications of these competitors. Again, these reports contain excessive amount of information on the company's history and current affairs, past trends, future plans, financial performance, products and services, etc. Investors who have to choose the most potential organization for his investment decision find it harder to sum up all the information and conclude in a timely manner (Kraut & Attewell). On the other hand, if they look at the publications and statistical data from the federal departments of their country, it becomes easier for them to make investment decision. Federal reports do not take financial figures from individual business concerns; rather they constitute a summary of the performance of the whole industry. Thus, investors are better able to make their investment decisions when they are free from unnecessary information overload (Tsai,109).
Opposing arguments:
If the negative impacts of modern communication channels are kept aside, there are various advantages and benefits that are being realized on a massive scale. It is obvious that information overload is a bad thing when it is not put on the right people at the right time. But if its contributions to the social life are seen, it has really contributed towards a more educated population than ever before. There is a plenty of information available over the internet which can give answer and
The research studies, reports, and surveys conducted in the past as well as the news on current affairs keep the society up-to-date all the time (Bondarouk, 410).
Information overload only happens when people fail to manage the upcoming information in an effective and efficient manner. That is, one should only select those mediums of information that he thinks are necessary for obtaining a particular type of information. Managers can also avoid information overload for their employees as well as for themselves if they distribute the work in a well-organized way. The best way to organize the job tasks among employees is to assign individual targets according to the skills and competencies. Job tasks that require collection and analysis of statistical data should be assigned to individuals who are good at numbers (Kraut & Attewell).
Conclusion:
Information Technology has made tremendous changes in the ways of communication. Internet, television channels, newspapers, and research studies are a huge source of information of the present times. There are two opposite schools of thoughts on the impacts of advanced communication mediums and information overload on the modern society. The first group believes that information overload is extremely dangerous for people in their personal and professional life. When people are unable to take up a plenty of information at one time, it creates disturbance and forgetfulness. Excessive information wastes important time and increases the chances of misrepresentation, mistakes, and duplication of data (Tsai,108).
Information overload also impacts the social behavior of people in a society. It has widened the distance between relations by substituting personal meetings to phone calls and interaction on social media networking (Kraut & Attewell). The second group argues that modern communication channels have made the general public more knowledgeable and well-informed with the conditions of outside World. Technology has made the communication much faster and more reliable than ever before. Excessive information can be dealt with proper selection of communication channels and mediums (Bondarouk, 412).
Works Cited
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Costigan, Sean & Perry, Jake. Cyberspaces and global affairs. Burlington: Ashgate Publishers, 2012. Print. (p. 319)
Eppler, Martin. Managing information quality: increasing the value of information in knowledge-intensive products and processes. New York: Springer, 2006. (p. 2)
Kraut, Robert & Attewell, Paul. Media Use in a Global Corporation: Electronic Mail and Organizational Knowledge. 6 July 1996. Web. 16 March 2012.
Neuron Global. The Negative Effects of Information Overload on the Workforce. 2011. Web. 16 March 2012.
Picot, Arnold; Reichwald, Ralf; Wigand, Rolf. Information, organization and Management. Berlin: Springer, 2008. Print. (p. 73)
Ruff, Josheph. Information Overload: Causes, Symptoms and Solutions. December 2002. Web. 16 March 2012.
Tsai, Hui-Liang. Information technology and business process re-engineering: new perspectives and strategies. Westport: Praeger, 2002. Print. (p 108)
