Information

Overload
101
WHAT DOES
THAT MEAN?
Let’s follow up on a few excerpts
If I break it down, the average person consumes information for 12
hours a day, taking in 100.000 words a day, which is 201 letter-sized
pages of text, single-spaced.

In terms of emails, the average professional receives at least 100

emails a day. No wonder why a Yahoo survey found that one-
third of people would rather clean their toilets than sort through
their inboxes.

We need to learn to limit ourselves. We need to turn off our

cellphones, our laptops, our iPods, even if it's just for an
hour.
Do you know these phrasal verbs?

o1. Follow up [on]: to look for more information.

o2. Break [it] down: to explain in more details.

o3. Take in: To observe and absorb.

o4. Sort through: to go through and organize.

o5. Turn [something] off:

to unplug, remove power
from electrical devices.
Information overload: what is it?
If you type the words "information overload" into Google,
you will immediately get an information overload - more than
7 million hits in 0.05 seconds. Some of this information is
interesting - for example, you learn that the phrase
"information overload" was first used in 1970, before the
Internet was invented. But much of the information is not
relevant or useful: obscure companies and even more obscure
bloggers.
Information overload is one of the biggest irritations in
modern life. There are news and sports websites to watch,
emails that need to be answered, people who want to chat
with you online, and back in the real world, friends, family,
and colleagues who also have things to tell you.

INFORMATION OVERLOAD – PHRASAL VERBS 5

Information overload: what to do?
What can be done about information overload? One solution
is technological: There is now a computer program or app
you can install called Freedom that disconnects you from the
web at preset times. The second solution involves willpower.
Turn off your cell phone and the Internet from time to time.
The manager of an IT company puts "thinking time" into his
schedule when all his electronic devices are turned off so that
he isn't disturbed. This might sound like common sense. But
nowadays, although we have more information than ever
before, we do not always have enough common sense.
In your life
How do you deal with information
overload?

o Are you often online?

o Do you go on social media everyday?

o How do you unwind / relax?

o Do you think you need to cut down on the

time you spend online?
 Match the sentences and the phrases
I changed the heat from 70° to 62°.2 F – I _______________
I delayed answering my emails. – I _______________
I increased the volume on the TV. – I _______________
I pressed the off button on the TV. – I _______________
I lowered the time I spend online. – I _______________
I put my phone charger into an outlet. – I _______________
I pressed the on button on my laptop. – I _______________

switched it off. turned it down. plugged it in.

switched it on. turned it up. held off on it.

cut down on it.
8
Book review
The Winter of Our Disconnect

o1. What do you think the book is about?

o2. Listen to a talk show and check your answer.

o3. What do you think about their experiment?

o4.
What are “digital immigrants” and “digital natives”?

o5. Are you a digital immigrant or a digital native?

Have you ever had to live without internet for a few days
o6. or more? What was it like?
 Homework: write an online essay

Structure Development Subject

An online essay is a text for

publishing online. The format
In this part you present new You can choose any subject or
depends on where you plan to
information and arguments aspect related to digital
publish it.
for your conclusion. nativity, information
For this assignment, you need overload, or FOMO (fear of
Show the readers why they
an introduction, the missing out).
should agree with you.
development, and a
conclusion.