Herbert Simon, a Carnegie Mellon professor, has an
insightful observation regarding the myriad information at our fingertips. He
said, “Information consumes the attention of its recipients. A wealth of
information creates a poverty of attention.”
The concern Simon has is that we neglect to manage the
information and knowledge to which we have unprecedented access. Our attention
is spread so thin that we are not effective with any of it. Add to that the
misinformation that also inundates us, and our attention is soon impoverished
indeed.
In short, we are plagued by a lack of focus. As our
attention becomes scattered, the information we possess becomes impotent
without the proper energy and intensity behind it. Just like the nail-file/flashlight/toothbrush/can
opener/shoehorn combo tool you can only buy in a Skymall catalog, by engaging
too many tasks, we are effective in none of them.
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