History typically gives us principles, if we’re willing to learn from it. Most trends have a historic precedent, with remixes on the same themes.
However, our Over-Information Age has very little precedent to work from. We only have some surviving (and dubious) myths and archaeological finds about an absurdly advanced ancient society.
The most significant difference comes through how we filter information. At one time, we were filtering out what was unimportant, and we now must filter out what is wrong.
Institutional replacement
Most of our older institutions that once held the Beacon of Truth have decayed badly. It’s not clear whether the internet caused it, or it simply hastened this decay. Either way, the old institutions aren’t reliable sources anymore:
| Source | Old View | New View |
| Library | The primary public repository of most known information, often from a curator’s hard work | A public repository of a curator’s preferred information, but one of many potential ones |
| Friends | A primary source of guidance, support, and part of a greater community | A preferred source of support, but one of many potential ones |
| Retailers | A possible source of information, community, and purchased goods | A possible source of purchased goods and shoddy information/community |
| College | A primary source of education, community, and career network | A possible source of education and career network, community optional |
| Church | A primary source of spiritual connection and network | A possible source of spiritual connection and network of many |
| Community | The essential group of people you don’t always agree with, but must learn to coexist alongside | The selected group of people you have chosen and built from your preferences |
Supermarkets made food cheap and amazing at the cost of meaning, and few people grieve the loss of a supermarket. The Over-Information Age has made knowledge vastly available, and few people grieve the loss of a non-exclusive information-holder.
In this transition, community is no longer a hand-in-hand experience with gaining knowledge. That makes a community optional.
Cheap information
The “attention economy” demonstrates that information is now less valuable than it used to be. Now, we need understanding to process what we’ve consumed more than the information itself.
We grow mentally ill under this information overload. Worse, we often use quantity to derive meaning by seeking copious information about Over-Information Disorder. This behavior is similar to the drug addict taking drugs to numb the pain of insomnia and malnutrition.
The normalized anxiety of the Millennial and Zoomer generation proves our society is walking a dangerous path.
A way out
The answer lies in quality, not quantity. We must work better, longer, and more thoroughly through less information. The lens of history over thousands of years has proven this approach works.
However, we must now say “no” more than ever before to the tidal wave of data:
- We once had to say “no” to more entertaining videos when the movie was over at the theater. Now, a simple finger gesture gives another video.
- Saying “no” to more potentially interesting books was on the way to the library or bookstore checkout counter. We now have to resist selecting something at the bottom of our article.
- People once moaned of the destruction of society through cheap horror books and reading too much of the newspaper. They weren’t wrong.
I’m not saying we must revert to the old ways entirely. Society changes, and we must change with it.
My assertion is that we must sacrifice perception to gain awareness. A deeper understanding focuses on a smaller and denser stream of facts within the larger body of information.
Clean meditation on a constrained domain, though, is also terrifying. We don’t often consciously realize it, but our intuition knows that inward change starts with additional understanding.
But, if we want to fix what the internet has brought to our lives, we must make that decision.