Subject name: Information Systems Management

Code: ICT292
Assignment number: Assignment 1 – Written Report
Title of report: Is too much information just as bad as too little?
Due date: 12 June 2022
Student name: Gowtham Kanagaraj
Student Id: 34445757
University: Murdoch University

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Table of Contents

I) Introduction Page 3
1. What is Information Overload? Page 3
1.1 Effects of information overload Page 3
1.1.1 Effects on health Page 3
1.1.1.1 Information Anxiety Page 4
1.1.1.2 Information fatigue syndrome Page 4
1.1.1.3 Cognitive overload Page 4
1.1.2 Continuous partial attention Page 4
1.1.3 Misinformation and fake news Page 5
1.2 Countries with information overload. Page 5

2.0 What is information underload? Page 5

2.1 Effects of information underload Page 5
2.1.1 Alienation from society Page 6
2.1.2 Command over English Page 6
2.1 Countries with information underload. Page 6

II) Conclusion Page 7

III) References Page 8

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 I) Introduction

The topic I chose for my report is “Is too much information just as bad as too little”. I chose
this topic because I personally feel the effects of information overload in my life and would
like to mitigate the ill effects. In an ever-increasingly digitalized and globalized information
world, it is important for one to understand how and why the excess of information affects
us. That is what I set to do in this report by discerning and contrasting between information
overload and information underload (information poverty)

To determine if information overload is better or worse than the absence of Information, we

have to define these terms, observe their effects, and then compare and contrast said
effects.

1 What is Information Overload?

The first problem that arose when I started writing this report was the amount of
information overload on the definition of information overload. The past few decades have
seen multiple definitions of the phrase with no luck of a unanimous acceptance of one
definition.

The definition that suits my report is as follows: ‘At the personal level, we can define
information overload as a perception on the part of the individual or observers of that
person, that the flow of information associated with work tasks is greater than can be
managed effectively, and a perception that overload in this sense creates a degree of stress
for which his or her coping strategies are ineffective’ (Wilson, 2001, p. 113)

To better under how Information overload is different from Information poverty or

information underload we need to know the effects of information overload.

1.1 Effects of information overload:

The effects of information overload involve effects on health, leaving humans with
continuous partial attention and the prevalence of misinformation and fake news.

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 This seems to be a problem only applicable to the developed and developing
countries where individuals often have access to one or more ICT devices.

1.1.1 Effects on Health:

Information overload has a multitude of effects on human health, the most

frequently quoted problems seem to be Information anxiety, Information fatigue
syndrome, and cognitive overload.

1.1.1.1 Information anxiety:

Saul Wurman (1989) defines Information anxiety as “information anxiety is

produced by the ever-widening gap between what we understand and what
we think we should understand. It is the black hole between data and
knowledge, and it happens when information doesn’t tell us what we want or
need to know” (p. 34).

With the ever-growing depth of information on the internet, it is getting

tougher by the day to keep up with the expanse of data available to us. A
simple google search about “pineapple” produces about 1.650,000,000
results within 0.67 seconds. Information anxiety creeps in when one has all
this information at their behest but is unsure how to sift through to find
relevant or useful data which can then be studied and consumed with the
hopes of future use.

1.1.1.2 Information fatigue syndrome

Sandra Thomas (1998) “…found that when inundated with data, his research
participants made more mistakes, misunderstood communication, and
snapped at their colleagues.”

The implication of the above findings is that when a person is overloaded

with information it tends to mentally fatigue them leading to poorer
cognitive and social performance. Organizations dealing with excessive
amounts of important data that need to be analyzed are at great risk if their
employees get fatigued and make more mistakes.

1.1.1.3 Cognitive overload

Rutkowski et al., (2018) noted that “When required resources exceed

available resources—that is, when a state of cognitive overload is reached
both memory sensitivity and criterion bias drop dramatically while STRTs get
faster”

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 When dealing with excessive information if the required resources far
outweigh the amount necessary cognitive overload is achieved. This will lead
to higher errors with common tasks that require a person to make use of
their cognitive faculties.

1.1.2 Continuous partial attention

Rose, E. (2010) defines Continuous partial attention as “the dispersed nature of
attention in online environments” (p. 41). It is the act of doing multiple activities
that simultaneously require our cognitive faculties.

It is scrolling through our phones while watching a video on Netflix. Listening to a

podcast while typing an essay, not only does it force us to split our attention
between two different mentally taxing activities, but it also decreases
productivity.

1.1.3 Misinformation and fake news

Laato et al., (2020) in their study found that “Information overload had the
stronger influence, which seems to suggest that cyberchondria is more fuelled by
being overwhelmed than trust in online content.”

Cyberchondria is hypochondria caused by the internet. Since 2019 there has

been various fake news about the Covid-19 pandemic which has had a great
impact on society as a whole. Various lives were lost due to misinformation
about vaccines. There were debates as to if masks should or should not be worn,
and home remedies that could treat the virus but actually ended up hurting the
people who tried them. It was the first time the whole world saw the effects of
fake information overload.

This could be used to devastating results in information warfare between two

countries or even two political parties during an election.

1.2 Countries with information overload.

It would appear that information overload is only applicable to developing and
developed countries with 1 or more ICT devices per person with a bustling internet
and communications architecture.

2 What is information underload?

There was no popularly used term for the lack of useful information, but Alexander et al.,
(2016) describe information underload as “ … the condition of the under-delivery of
meaningful information caused by barriers of both access to and entrance into … dialogue.”

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 2.1 Effects of information underload:
The effects of information underload are significantly different compared to that of
information overload. The effects are more social such as alienation from the global
society or loss of important information due to lack of command over the English
language.

2.1.1 Alienation from society

Jaegar, P.T (2004) concludes that ‘the cause of information poverty is lack of
connection to the greater information community caused by either voluntary
or imposed alienation from general society.’ (p. 100)

The tribes in Andaman and Nicobar still don’t know how to light a fire, and
that has put them in a place where they can only eat raw meat which could
easily house virulence that could kill them.

Lack of information isolates them from a growing and fledgling globalized

world. This divide will only grow further as information and knowledge
seems to grow exponentially rather than in a linear fashion.

2.1.2 Command over English

Britz, J.J. (2006) noted that “a society can be highly educated, and have
access to the Internet, but if its members cannot speak or understand
English, such a society might be regarded in a specific context as information-
poor due to the fact that it does not have access to the bulk of information
that is available on the Internet. ” (p. 83)

A brilliant researcher who might be on the cusp of a breakthrough might

possibly not reach his destination if the necessary additional scientific
literature is in a foreign language. Thus this breeds a society where people
literate in the English language have more resources to read and would also
end up reproducing more English works.

2.2 Countries with information underload.

Britz, J.J. (2004) noted that the “backbone of an information-rich country is a well-
developed information infrastructure, that is, an infrastructure enabling the
communication of information ” and “globalization, based on the use of ICT, is one of
the biggest causes of contextual information poverty in communities and developing
countries.”(p. 196)

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 The countries that have information underload or information poverty are the ones
that are economically downtrodden with a lack of a proper communications
infrastructure. Not only does it allow for information poverty it also enables the
information divide to grow between themselves and developed countries.

Conclusion

Throughout my research for this report I found out that the problems of information
poverty far outweigh the problems and effects of information overload. The problems
associated with information underload showcase a rudimentary communication system that
doesn’t allow for the free transmission and access of information. The implication of a said
system are that people are let to deal with problems that we in the developed world faced
half a century ago, some even centuries ago.

The problems associated with information overload are therefore first world problems and
as much as they are bothersome and worrisome, the opportunities that come with the
information world far outweigh the problem of an information poor world.

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Reference List

1. Wilson, Tom. (2001). Wilson, T.D.: Information Overload: Implications for Healthcare
Services. Health Informatics Journal 7, 112-117. Health Inf. J.. 7.
10.1177/146045820100700210. 
2. Richard Saul Wurman ,  (1989) .  Information Anxiety(1st ed.) . Doubleday .
3. Bell, S. (2004).The Info diet: How Libraries Can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to
Google. In The Chronicle of Higher Education 50 (24)
4. Laato, S., Islam, A. K. M., Islam, M. N., & Whelan, E. (2020). Why do people share
misinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic?. arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.09600.
5. Sandra P. Thomas (1998) EDITORIAL: INFORMATION FATIGUE SYNDROME - IS THERE
AN EPIDEMIC?, Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 19:6, 523-
524, DOI: 10.1080/016128498248818
6. Britz, J. J. (2004). To know or not to know: a moral reflection on information
poverty. Journal of information science, 30(3), 192-204.
7. Jaeger, P. T., & Thompson, K. M. (2004). Social information behavior and the democratic
process: Information poverty, normative behavior, and electronic government in the
United States. Library & information science research, 26(1), 94-107.
8. Britz, J. J. (2006). A critical analysis of information poverty from a social justice
perspective (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pretoria).
9. Rose, E. (2010). Continuous partial attention: Reconsidering the role of online learning in
the age of interruption. Educational Technology, 50(4), 41-46.
10. Alexander, Bryan & Barrett, Kim & Cumming, Sioux & Herron, Patrick & Holland, Claudia
& Keane, Kathleen & Ogburn, Joyce & Orlowitz, Jake & Thomas, Mary Augusta & Tsao,
Jeff. (2016). Report from the Information Overload and Underload Workgroup. Open
Scholarship Initiative Proceedings. 1. 10.13021/G8TG7J.