Electronic Information Clutter

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Started 2 years ago by theflightchick
Latest reply from trillie
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theflightchick
Member

This is certainly not as tangible as physical clutter, but I have as big of a problem dealing with "electronic" clutter as I do a giant stack of papers. For instance, when I am on the internet, I visit blogs, do e-mail, facebook, news, groups, etc. I go away with a guilty feeling of not having read certain blogs or links or responding to email from an old high school friend. Additionally, the television is giving me all these great recipes and charities and whatnot to check out online and I JUST CAN'T GET TO IT ALL!!!! I end up feeling as if I'm missing out on something.

I am fairly new to this site and thank you all for your input on the different topics and would love to know how you deal with being bombarded with electronic clutter all day, every day.

Posted 2 years ago #
toberead
Member

I use Bloglines to organize most of the blogs and web sites that I read regularly. It keeps them all in one place, and I can see what's new very quickly. I can just hit the highlights and if I want more information, I can click on the link and get the full story. Unfortunately, not all web sites have RSS feeds, but it covers about 80-90% of what I do online.

Some people use Evernote to keep track of things, but I find Evernote much more cluttered and hard to read. (Admittedly, I haven't played around with it that much.) Because Bloglines is all text, I can get much more info on a single screen and it's easier for me to see what's new.

Posted 2 years ago #
Suebie
Member

I have felt overwhelmed by everything that I needed to check electronically as well. I used to subscribe to a blog that posted 30ish times a day, between that, facebook, and emails I was overwhelmed. I realized that things that are supposed to be enjoyable had actually became a chore to me. I decided to see if I could live without the 30-postings-per-day blog and any other blog I wasn't really enjoying, I created a group in facebook for the people I really really wanted to read about and only read their updates and I also delete forwards (jokes, etc) if I don't have time to read them.

I feel like I have taken back charge of my time. I've not missed anything and if I have extra time, I can go out and read some of the additional information I'm "missing" out on.

Posted 2 years ago #
Julia
Member

I can't say I've completely won this battle, but I'm getting there. It's like any other sort of decluttering: you have to know what you really want and what you really need. Pare that down to a reasonable amount - if you're not getting to everything now, you're not losing anything by creating this top tier.

I do the same with the remaining group; they go in a second tier.

I quickly found I never got to anything that didn't make it into the second tier.

Now I make time to read the top tier with my morning coffee or over lunch. The second tier I get to if/when I have time. The rest is about as valuable (to me, not inherently) as, well, a usb-powered eyelash curler.

Posted 2 years ago #
Lilliane P
Member

Google reader works well, too. All text also and you can go to the page if you want to or just read in the reader.

Posted 2 years ago #
Julia
Member

Sorry - I should have noted that I used a free web organizer called "Protopage" (protopage.com.) It handless RSS, links, and has some note capability (and other capabilities I don't use). It isn't fancy, but I don't need it to be.

Posted 2 years ago #
Laetitia in Australia
Member

theflightchick - it sounds like you're suffering from information overload. The trick is to learn that (a) you're a human being - you're not meant to know everything; (b) not everything that your friends do is going to be immediately important to you; (c) if they are truly your friend, they'll understand if you can't/don't respond immediately; after all, they're most likely in the same boat (d) who's to say that you aren't on holidays so you can't even read your e-mail.

Turn off the TV.

We don't have a TV. There are times when I'd like one to "structure" my evening (e.g. sit in front of the news while working on my sewing projects) or watch a DVD on a bigger screen than my laptop but it's a luxury I'm comfortable to live without (heading for 7 years in March), particularly if I don't have physical room for one.

For blogs I use Google Reader. It's currently telling me that one of the blogs I dip into has 252 unread items. I am no more obliged to read all those posts than I am to eat everything on my plate (something that I am slowly learning for the sake of my hips). :-)

Posted 2 years ago #
theflightchick
Member

Thank you all for your wonderful input. "Information overload" is definitely what I am dealing with and rather than having to address each and every thing that comes my way, I am going to have to create a situation where less comes my way.

Oh, TV! I am slowly (very slowly) weaning myself off TV. I am using it more now as a noisemaker than entertainment. I can name only three shows I would miss if I didn't have it. We have discussed getting rid of cable, and our journey may take a while, but I am sure that eventually it will be less of a fixture in daily life.

I spent a lot of time last night closing down some of the email accounts I have and changing passwords. I set up an igoogle page and am still investigating Google Reader (it still seems very busy to me). I like this thing called scribbly, where you write a note to yourself and it gets emailed to you. I'll work with that and see if it makes anything easier.

I am now going to concentrate on the TIME I spend on the internet and create a schedule that allows me some time during the day, but not HOURS. And in a very structured way, and with purpose.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I'll let you know how I am coming along...

Posted 2 years ago #
Julia
Member

The only thing that helps me with the time I spend on the Internet is ... a timer. Lots of freebie timer software out there, or the timer on the stove - anything that makes me aware of how much time I'm losing to the web. (The point is not so much to get me to stop, but to make me aware of the passing of time I'd rather use on something else -- because that's what will get me to stop.)

Julia

Posted 2 years ago #
sherrybanarsi
Member

Look into Google Reader. It's a bit inaccessible at first, and I wouldn't suggest walking into it without trepidation, but it has its benefits. Firstly it introduces a major change in how you deal with websites: all your content (be it blogs or websites) is sorted through Google Reader's interface. It's a cleaner and more efficient way of consuming electronic information, and I like how I can save any link that I like by starring it (and thus making it available anywhere, keeping bookmark clutter in control). But the word of caution here is that given Google Reader's efficiency, people tend to subscribe to more content than they would by regularly visiting websites manually and thus exacerbate the conditions of information overload. I guess the message here is that you need to strike a balance: stick to only the websites you are fan of/check regularly and cull the list of websites you follow to the absolute minimum. Personally I don't find it difficult because I'm very selective of the websites I devote my time to and regularly delete those which I do not find captivating. I suppose it also helps that I shun social networks and fads like Twitter and Facebook altogether - freeing me from what I perceive to be the biggest source of electronic information clutter in people's lives.

Posted 2 years ago #
trillie
Member

Oh, I know that feeling! I haven't had a TV for years because I forgot the time and always thought I was missing something (when in fact, it was never as rewarding as I had hoped), and now Teh Interwebz is taking its place. I'm right in the middle of restructuring how I approach my internet time, but this is what I applied so far or plan to do:

* Like Julia, I use a timer, set to 15 minutes, always reminding me when another 15 minutes went by.
* I deleted about 10 (!) accounts for pages and/or networks etc that I really do not use or care for.
* I unified my email and social networking accounts: For social networks, I updated my profile to the bare minimum and set the preferences to "email me whenever someone writes me a message". So I don't check those anymore, unless I got an email. Also, I check my last three email accounts from the same program and have them all in one place.
* On my to do list: Putting all the RSS feeds into the mail program as well (I use Mail.app on a Mac) so I don't go surfing everywhere "just in case there is something new somewhere".
* If I still feel overwhelmed and "information overload"ed in a few weeks, then I will either install a program (it got mentioned somewhere in an unclutterer post in the comments, I will have to look for it) that monitors how much time you spend using which program and when browsing, what sites you visit most. Or I will just give me an "internet curfew" and actually unplug the router after time's up (this will be difficult for the inner ratfink though!). Or both.

But, as always, being aware of a problem is already half of the solution! :)

Posted 2 years ago #

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