Too Much Information

Capital One, in advertising its credit card, asks everyone “What's in your wallet?” Mostly garbage, I assume. Including too many credit cards. We live, at least in this part of the world, amidst excess. There's too much of everything – at least the things you would be better off without.

Let me give an example. The last time you looked at your snail mail, how much was pertinent and how much was junk mail? (And the same is true of e-mail, which is the reason that so many people have stopped looking at it.) If it's anything like mine it's primarily junk – catalogs, ads, bulk mailings from organizations that somehow or other got my address, political mailings, and wrong addresses – with very little of any consequence. Most of the envelopes go on the recycle pile (apart from form letters with blank backs that we recycle in our printer) after wasting too much of my time. In all fairness I have to admit that it's my wife's time. I wouldn't waste mine on the junk.

Perhaps if that were the extent of the problem it would be tolerable. But it isn't, so it isn't. Don't answer your telephone. It's a “robo” call or some other kind of auditory spam. Especially during “silly season.” Political calls seem to come in every few minutes – usually robot calls not blocked by mechanisms that stop other robo calls. I'm glad I still have the strength to get up and answer them – and hang up immediately – but I resent them. My electoral choice is often the one who bothers me least by 'phone or mailing, and the one whose message is positive rather than a rant about the other candidate. Even after my visit to the polls I get calls from the party in which I enrolled (stupidly) years ago to ask me if I have voted. It's the most active time of year for politicians who never seem to be interested in getting any kind of useful legislation passed. They're too busy. (Try calling them and you'll only get an aide whose salary you, as a taxpayer, are supplying.) Except for catering to the needs of contributors and those who can assure them of lots of publicity. (A significant number of laws named after unfortunate individuals fall into this category. Call something “Gretchen's Law” and there's certain to be wide coverage. One of the things of which we have an excess are named laws.)

It shouldn't be surprising. Scientists tell us the Universe is expanding, so shouldn't we expect the same of everything else? Since I don't know (or, frankly, care) how fast that is I can't determine if the rate of junk mail is or isn't exceeding it. Whether or not it is, it's clearly coming too fast.

But the most rapd expansion is in one of the products of science and technology – the internet and its children. Search for something on Google^® for example and, unless the search terms are very restrictive, you'll get more responses than you can deal with. And they're not always reliable. Too many are sucked into the trap of accepting what they read as fact and ignoring the advice of real experts as they defer to the views and prejudices of loud-voiced and opinionated correspondents. The same occurs in other applications. The various social media are absorbing all the free time of too many people. There are, for example, too many useless blogs by those who think they have something to say immediately and need a platform. (I should point out that this is not one of those blogs. Mine, of course, is useful.)

Accompanying the varied, and excessive, postings are too many uninteresting or insipid pictures and videos dealing, mostly, with “cute” children, “amusing” animals, and the views of the same politicians you can't reach. And ads. Targeted ads. Designed to induce your purchase of something you don't need.

Too much. Too much junk mail and telephone calls; too much political blather; too much time wasted on the computer: too many advertisements – not only on the internet but everywhere you look. And they're all detracting from the time that used to be spent thinking, or reading some worthwhile material. Things are moving too fast.

We've lost our focus. Rather than spend our time on activities of value to us we're overwhelmed by everything going on in society, whether or not it's of any consequence. And there's too much that doesn't matter. We're more interested in an idiotic “fact” from the Guinness book than in speaking to our children, or spending time in contemplation. Sadly our children aren't interested in talking to us. They're too busy on their own devices. And they have no interest in contemplation.

Is there any solution to the problem? Not really. The mail and telephone problems will get worse. Portable smartphones will increase and increase the time we spend away from thought. Politics remain as certain as death and taxes. And advertising will only increase over time as it has been doing.

I'm too pessimistic. There is a solution, but very few will follow it. Isolation. That's my approach, and, to a degree, the approach of many families. Don't answer your phone unless you want to speak to the one calling. That takes “caller ID” and some kind of answering machine, but it's worth it. Ditto your mail. Open it only if the return address is that of someone from whom you want to hear. Throw the rest of the mail out. Don't watch television. Resign from Facebook^® and its analogues. Read a classic every now and then. Think.

I suspect you'll view me as a troglodyte. That's OK. The concerns in previous generations were probably similar, but they didn't act on them and we suffer because of it. Shouldn't we protect future generations from society's advances?






May 1, 2017