The Information Age, highlighted by the advent of the Internet, certainly presents its own host of challenges. Among those challenges is the availability of information. There is SO much out there, and thanks to today's search engines, RSS technology, and Amazon.com it is all accessible with a few clicks of a button. As mobile internet technology becomes increasingly popular, this access is available to us at virtually any place at any time.
This is GREAT, but as I said earlier it presents some interesting challenges. I am a voracious reader. I could spend days at a time in the library. If I walk into a room containing books, magazines, and/or newspapers I am magnetically drawn to them. This has always been the case. As a kid I would get in trouble for taking out a book and reading it for hours after my parents put me to bed. In fact, my poor eyesight is likely due to the fact that I would covertly read on the floor next to my bunk bed using the light coming into my room from the hallway. When I couldn't find anything interesting around the house I would crack the encyclopedia.
I am not addicted to reading. If I am on a vacation, or if things are particularly busy at work reading falls by the wayside. Also, I am discriminating in what I read. I have particular interests and tastes, however broad they may be.
As alluded to earlier, with the advent Internet there is an inordinate amount of interesting things to read. This predicament has only been compounded with the growth of blogs, not merely personal blogs, but professional blogs pertaining to specific themes (e.g. lawyering, finance, politics, etc.).
In order to prevent my brain from frying, or my eyes for that matter (I've made too many trips to the eye doctor over the past few years, probably in large part due to my law school reading assignments; in fact, I can no longer wear contacts lenses without my eyes flaring up), I've had to rachet down and fix the amount of time set aside for reading each day. I also have been forcing myself to take "days off" from any significant reading (particularly reading on the computer). Sundays are great for this.
Now I purposely avoided discussing email as one of the challenges associated with the Information Age, but it's a similar situation. Email has become the correspondence of choice within business. Blackberrys and Blackberry-type devices (aka Crackberrys, due to their addictive nature), which have already taken the legal industry by storm will soon reach the tipping point within other industries.
The constant barrage of emails creates enormous challenges as far as time management, especially in setting boundaries between work and life. Emails can also serve as the interruptors, preventing one from spending a meaningful amount of time on any one task or project. It is very easy to treat your email inbox like a telephone.
Without delving into further detail regarding the email problem, the point is that it is important to take stock of how the unprecedented access to information is affecting your life. There are positivies, but there are also certainly boundaries that must be set. As I grapple with these challenges I will be sure to record what I've found here on the blog.
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