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New research from analysts at ESRI UK has found that a third of us feel stressed due to the increasing amount of digital information we are expected to consume, make sense of, and act on, in our day to day lives.
Many of us can probably relate to the stress of having to prepare for exams by "cramming" as much information into our heads as we can. But increasingly we are being expected to "cram" every day, with information fired at us by emails, phone conversations, videos, news broadcasts and social media. As a trivial example – there's no longer an excuse to forget Aunt June's birthday when she knows full well everyone will get a reminder via Facebook FB -0.95%!
Now science has stepped forward with an explanation. The human brain thrives on novelty and is driven to constantly seek it. When novelty is available in effectively unlimited quantity, the brain becomes overworked as it tries to process this information while driving itself on to search for more. This leads to increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which can lead to confusion, memory loss and a state of restlessness.
The study of 1,000 Brits found that over a third (35%) feel that having to keep up with today's "information overload" leaves them feeling stressed out, unable to relax and anxious. Two thirds (65%) say that the need to keep track of a great deal of information is a "major concern" in their lives.
Others might cite major sources of stress as scope creep and compressed timelines, but YMMV.
(Score: 2) by n1 on Saturday November 28 2015, @11:49AM
I do not watch television for the most part, I do not watch the news, I try to limit my reading to stuff that matters. I have in recent times watched the news in the company of other people and felt i must clarify the nuances and context of the story which is usually completely lacking in trying to present an impartial 'for and against' narrative, especially prevalent in the BBC.
The data overload and stress for me, comes almost entirely from professional life, I am self-employed/small business owner. Working across multiple industries at multiple levels within them, switching daily or even hourly between being a general contractor on building projects to network engineer to security consultant to corporate due diligence (and more inbetween).
Now admittedly, this is partly my own making, including contributing to this site. But I feel I have no choice, to try and achieve some semblance of financial security in my life, I can't bet it all on one horse, one industry, one client, one employer.
This creates a situation, in addition to dealing with personal life, where every day i am presented with new datasets, new subjective information, new regulation/guidelines, new technology, new competitors in the markets, new misinformation, new first hand experience changing perception of whatever is involved. I struggle to keep up.
Through this I have lost interest in most forms of media, I can't use TV and film as a distraction. The plot holes, propaganda elements, non-existent characters, clichéd scripts, by the numbers plots, all stand out a mile and mean I can't enjoy them for the most part. The few things I have been looking forward to, such as new computer games, are suffering a similar fate, I was hyped for Fallout 4, after seeing video and reviews from it's release, I stopped caring. I would still enjoy the game, not as much as previous, but because it's already a subjective failure as far as what I wanted from it, I can't justify the time in something that will be 'ok'.
Finding an escape from all the data and stress of the life I currently find myself in, is almost impossible, my only refuge is playing guitar and i'm often too exhausted to do that.
I could go on at length and attempt to make some clearer points, but I have to go to work now. As i found out last night, stuck in traffic on the way home, I am required on-site again today, and my weekend ceases to exist an hour before it even began. This weekend was going to be a 'work at the computer on other jobs/work/contracts', now it's a go to one clients property and cover for everyone else's failures.
That's my 2p.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Saturday November 28 2015, @03:21PM
"plot holes, propaganda elements, non-existent characters, clichéd scripts, by the numbers plots"
I think you just described why there's so much more reality TV today. Fictional shows are far too pat. Reality is messier and grayer.
I quit watching TV regularly during the last season of STNG. Big Bang Theory is the only show I've seen recently that tempts me back. However, other family members keep dragging me in front of the TV and movie screen, and so I've seen a few episodes of current stuff. A show such as this Flash superhero dreck is pretty representative. Sure, it's far better done than the cheesy, campy 1960s Batman show. Better special effects, superficially more realistic fights, more developed characters. But for me at least, the superhero genre is worn out, and however well done the surface is, start digging down and it all falls apart. The premises are just plain silly. At heart, the superhero is a fantasy of an ordinary person being transformed into something extraordinary. But it has to be extremely limited, occurring under mysterious and rare circumstances, or everyone could become a superman, and then what? It's not fun anymore, because the hero is no longer special. For me, the educational and informative value of such a show is just about zero. Mostly, when pushed into watching, I ponder why audiences want this sort of thing, if they do. Why does all this power have to be innate to human flesh? A lightning bolt from above is just as effective as a bolt shooting out of a fingertip, but people prefer the latter.
Then there's the dystopian, dark fantasy show. The Earth has been trashed somehow, by nukes or cylons or pollution, and humanity is barely hanging on. To keep things that way, the shows resort to various implausible plot mechanisms to keep humanity on the edge without quite killing us all off. It's like watching someone dangling over the side of an abyss, fingers barely maintaining a grip on the edge, for days and weeks. It's an unstable situation that can't last, either the person soon falls or climbs out, but whichever it is, it's resolved long before a week could pass. Instead, we tune in to the next 20 plus episodes of more of the same, and problems such as food and drink and sleep go unremarked or are solved by means that could easily bring a happy end to all the drama, but somehow the characters fail to see those possibilities. It's the professor on Gilligan's Island. Can do all this marvelous stuff, but can't repair a hole in a boat, or make a new boat.
I prefer to spend my leisure time, such as it is, on computer games.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @03:43PM
FYI for Gilligan's Island, they did repair the holes in the boat. Then they covered the entire boat with what they thought was an awesome new glue but it instead destroyed the entire boat. Later they do build a raft and get off the island and are rescued, only to later get shipwrecked again on the same island!
Those people would have been rescued hundreds of time if it wasn't for Gilligan. I suspect Gilligan was actually a physiology professor running an experiment on those poor people.k
(Score: 2) by n1 on Saturday November 28 2015, @08:22PM
'Reality TV' is a success for many reasons. I have enjoyed it myself, even recently with things like Ice Road Truckers and Deadliest Catch. Those kind of shows have a fairly consistent formula though, and the editing takes much of the reality from it. They also fall quite well into 'delayed gratification' in that the shows tease the main event of the episode and carefully build to a reveal of very little substance.
Reality TV has real characters, they are shaped and directed for the cameras, but often they have far more personality and charisma than an average actor performing a bad script. The idea there is something really on the line, for people we can identify and empathize with. That can be far more engaging than an imagined story about people we can't really relate to.
From what I have seen, people want different things out of entertainment. I like to be informed, amused if possible, but most importantly engaged in the subject. Some people seem to prefer a direct escape, turn the brain off and let the eyes and ears do all the work. The superhero move, action adventure, spy movies, gross-out comedy. Fantasy and popular sci-fi can be more complex versions of it, more substance. You can just be in it for the ride and enjoy the scenery, escape can be enticing, the good guys win.
Media and entertainment as part of the data we are subjected to is something I consider a lot. I enjoy writing non-fiction and making music, but I find it very difficult to decide on an ultimate direction for either.
The is easy one is music, there are so many people making great stuff that few really have the time to enjoy or opportunity to discover. What benefit is there to really making effort to create and share my musical vision? Would my time not be better spent on more tangible projects?
There are so many people creating entertaining content with no real (or direct) informative or insightful value. That is not a bad thing, artists being able to making a living from their works. But there are only more people doing it and trying to do it, celebrity culture, media is everywhere in society. Some do it for free as a hobby, also not a bad thing. We have enough quantity of entertainment, we don't have enough quality. We're only just adding more quantity now.
Now the writing. I read a lot, news from as many sources as possible, books in the same way. I am an editor on this site. There are many subjects I would like to write about, there are many important subjects that need research and analysis. I have no idea where to start, what to spend my time studying and writing about. How to avoid the traps of churning easy content or writing what I assume the reader may want... I can't expect many people to read or care about what I write, but where to begin in at least making it accessible? I do believe it's worth trying if i could determine a productive direction. Far more valuable than producing an album or other musical project, as happy as music can make me.
Even with all that, there is still a consideration of even more tangible productivity and avoiding the conceptual altogether. Maybe sometimes enjoy others creativity expressed entertainment, play my guitar, but I should be getting my hands dirty trying to be actually productive. Not just finding the next contract that pays the bills, but doing something genuinely worthwhile with my time. I am the only person of 'military age' in my family, to use a term in fashion right now, physically fit but also with a wide range of professional and technical experience. I don't have a fucking clue how to apply that in a genuinely practical and productive manner.