Friday, September 2, 2011

Information Obesity

     Information obesity is the overload of information a person has or is able to obtain.  To avoid information obesity, a person must be able to use filtering strategies.  Information obesity is partly due to the Internet, the 24-hour news cycle, misleading material, and enclosed information.  I was surprised by how many questions we should ask ourselves when obtaining information; such as, who is paying for the information to be made public?, how credible is the source?, and what information did not get out? 
     Misleading information can affect not only the way we think, but how future generations perceive information passed on through our generation.  As an advertising minor, I have experienced advertising's influence on how people think and the information they receive.  A company will advertise only what they want the consumer to see or know about a certain product or service.  Take Enron for example.  The company projected a certain amount of positive information and made the public and investors believe whatever they said was true.  In the end, everyone was misinformed and the information was false. 
     Many people also believe that technology in the workforce is a positive step towards the future.  Companies want the public to believe this because it cuts down on labor costs and in turn, saves the company money.  However, the big picture is that replacing human labor with mechanized labor can hurt people, their families, and even communities. 
     The Internet is a vast resource for information.  Anyone can put anything on the Internet.  To avoid information obesity on the Internet, verify sites and double check with other websites to make sure the information is correct.

2 comments:

  1. Nice work! You defined information obesity, then explained some of its causes, and then added your personal insights and reflections. You also used a great example with Enron using misleading as well as withholding information! You ended by including strategies to avoid information obesity.

    Only one rewrite:
    Rephrase the: "I have experienced how advertising can influence how people think..." to "I have experienced advertising's influence on how people think..."

    I'd like to share this post with the class so they can see what a good post should look like. Just let me know if that's OK with you.

    ReplyDelete