This topic keeps popping up, and every time it does it seems I have something to say about it. Or rather I have something to repeat about it, because I can't remember what I said last time!
I did a quick search - you know, because I wanted as much information as possible - on information overload, and it turns out it's not a "new" phenomenon. A guy wrote a book in 1970 (yes, the year I was born) about it. In fact he coined a term that I intend to use on a regular basis from here on out because I love it so much: infobesity. Even earlier than that (1964) Bertram Gross wrote these incredibly prophetic words, or at least prophetic in the way I've seen the Navy change over the years: "Information overload occurs when the amount of input to a system exceeds its processing capacity. Decision makers have fairly limited cognitive processing capability. Consequently, when information overload occurs, it is likely that a reduction in decision quality will occur." To use the terminology from your blog, Brad, lower decision quality = less impact.
We've all been overloaded by information at varying levels. Sometimes when we try to figure out where to get some dinner, too many options makes it a more difficult decision. Or deciding where to grab some dinner with a large group… forget about it. That's when somebody needs to make a command decision on behalf of the group. Too much information means you'll be standing around starving while someone runs the group through the nominal group technique, a force field analysis, and then implements the Delphi model. Geez! Can we just eat??
But the ramifications on the larger scale can have consequences. Most people are scared of POST decision analysis. Every decision that turns out to be less than optimal gets ultra-analyzed, and it's at that point that someone will uncover the nugget of information that DID exist that the decision maker was not aware of that may have led to a different decision. Post analysis sucks. When you have a few months to waste and nothing else to read, check out the 9/11 Commission Report. It's 450 pages of microscopic POST analysis. As they always say, hindsight is 20/20.
Have you ever seen the acronym BLUF? I see it a lot in the Navy. It stands for Bottom Line Up Front. I roughly translate it to: "What follows is a metric ass-ton of information, but let me summarize it all for you in one or two sentences right at the beginning." I guess the fancier, professional terminology for BLUF would be "executive summary". As a Navy leader I have to coach my subordinates so that they just get to the essential facts right up front. If I need more information I'll ask for it, but in general I will trust that they've done due diligence (until I discover otherwise). Just the facts Ma'am.
I don't have a good answer for any of it, because the reality is that even if you want to pare down the information that you are getting as a leader, you have to figure out what information is important and what isn't. That's the tricky part. In dealing with situations as a (relatively new) Naval Officer, sometimes I realize that "the information exceeds my processing capability." So when I go to talk to MY boss, I bring my Chief with me. He knows the details, so I just bring him along. It saves time and my "processing capability"!
Little did I know there is an organization that researches Information Overload. The irony is not lost on me that they have a website with links to all kinds of research about information overload.
As far as impact in advertising… I have very small hobby of observing the methods that direct mail advertisers use to get you to open the envelope. Oddly enough, the ones that seem to work most effectively on me are the ones that don't have much of anything on the envelope except for my name and address. Otherwise, they're all the same: return address on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.; important government entitlement change - open immediately; postmaster, it is a violation of federal law to deliver this to any other person than the addressee; extremely sensitive information enclosed. Nice try jokers. Pre-sorted First Class gives it away every time.
One last thought… in the attempts to break through and have "impact", sometimes things can get pretty gimmicky. A good example is 5K races. They are a dime a dozen, and I've seen some pretty ridiculous gimmicks to try to make them stand out from the rest. The races of choice that I've seen lately are the ones where you get absolutely covered in colored chalk at some point in the race. That's almost as enticing as cattle prods.
Seems like I just kind of randomly ended there. Yeah. I feel infobese. Done for now.
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