Media scholar ( and Internet Enthusiast ) David Shenk examines the troubling effects of information proliferation on our bodies, our brains, our relationships, and our culture, then offers strikingly down-to-earth insights for coping with the deluge. With a skillful mixture of personal essay, firsthand reportage, and sharp analysis, Shenk illustrates the central paradox of our time: as our world gets more complex, our responses to it become increasingly simplistic. He draws convincing links between data smog and stress distraction, indecision, cultural fragmentation, social vulgarity, and more. But there's hope for a saner, more meaningful future, as Shenk offers a wealth of novel prescriptions—both personal and societal—for dispelling data smog.

A media scholar examines the effects of data overload on our lives, our relationships, and our culture, and offers strikingly down-to-earth insights for coping with our information infatuation.

The author awoke from years of computer worship to the less welcome side-effects of information mania. Replacing his faith in the virtue of technology is a feeling that the raison d'etre of the industry is to hook the culture on the manic velocity of data and lose interest in slower deliberation.

We all agree that the free flow of ideas is essential to creativity. And we like to believe that in our modern, technological world, information is more freely available and flows faster than ever before. But according to Nobel Laureate Robert Laughlin, acquiring information is becoming a danger or even a crime. Increasingly, the really valuable information is private property or a state secret, with the result that it is now easy for a flash of insight, entirely innocently, to infringe a patent or threaten national security. The public pays little attention because this vital information is "technical" -- but, Laughlin argues, information is often labeled technical so it can be sequestered, not sequestered because it's technical. The increasing restrictions on information in such fields as cryptography, biotechnology, and computer software design are creating a new Dark Age: a time characterized not by light and truth but by disinformation and ignorance. Thus we find ourselves dealing more and more with the Crime of Reason, the antisocial and sometimes outright illegal nature of certain intellectual activities. The Crime of Reason is a reader-friendly jeremiad, On Bullshit for the Slashdot and Creative Commons crowd: a short, fiercely argued essay on a problem of increasing concern to people at the frontiers of new ideas.

This easy-to-follow guide can help students and teachers ' even the most technology-resistant ' learn to solve problems from sources like Internet sites, news groups, chat rooms, e-mail, and other Internet resources. Topics include: Creating your own lesson plans using sample lesson planners Applying frameworks for grade-level objectives and skills Dealing with information-technology overload Solving any information challenge with six critical steps Helping students harness the web with simple tips An important resource for today's classroom, Net Savvy can help educators become leaders rather than followers in the new high-tech, high-speed, digital era.

The barrage of emails, voicemail, web pages to scan, books to read, and magazines and newsletters to digest leave people increasingly feeling overwhelmed and out of control in dealing with information overload as society spins even faster. This book offers a brief, seven-chapter practical guide to the "capture" approach. It teaches the skills of point, focus, and shoot to help the reader become more productive and overcome mental fatigue. This is not a gimmick for "neat desk" people or an expensive system requiring purchase of multiple resources or practice of rigid exercises. This practical, quick-read book shows how people of any temperament can keep from drowning in the sea of information. Features include interviews and insights from national leaders plus charts, cartoons, worksheets, and creative exercises. The book is not about how to speed up but how to gain time and focus and purpose and the mental space to be creative. You don't have to finish the book but can read it selectively at different times depending on your current needs. Feel free to skim-read, tear out pages, email small sections to a friend, or read from back to front. The goal is that you come away with ideas and help. The four sections are: 1. Finding the information you need: and getting results from it.2. Clearing information clutter: less is more.3. Creating space to think: finding oasis amid overload.4. Discovering bonus stuff: it doesn't cost you anything extra. This clear, practical guide will help you to: -Sort and organize information in less time -Make space to be creative -Find just the information you need when you need it -Move from frantic to purposeful -Keep growing over a lifetime.