Information overload in the workplace

I found an article through the Texas A&M library databases called “Coping with information overload in email communication: Evaluation of a training intervention” that was written by Roman Soucek and Klaus Moser. I determined that it was scholarly for multiple reasons; the library database noted that it was an academic/scholarly article, and was peer reviewed. I also noted that there was a long list of references at the end of the article, and it has a primary author, Roman Soucek.

The article first introduced three different facets of information overload in the workplace: a large amount of incoming information, inefficient workflow, and deficient communication quality. It then addresses information overload, and introduces a training intervention meant to help people in the workplace cope with email overload. The training intervention is expected to improve media competencies, improve personal workflow, and enhance email literacy. Soucek and Moser conducted 16 different training sessions in six different companies. Their results show that the training caused an increase in knowledge and media competencies. Issues related to strain, media usage, and work impairment all declined.

Overall, the article conveys a successful rhetorical message. It discusses the idea that, with proper training and knowledge, information overload (especially email overload) can be combated in the workplace. Email can cause a stressful work environment only if one lets it.

Party lines to home phones to cell phones

Recently, my parents cancelled our home phone number. It was the end of an era; this is the number that I had recognized as my own for my entire life. Why did they cancel it? Because we no longer needed it. No one ever called it anymore, and we never used it to call others. We just used our cell phones. It was merely an extra payment.

In the 1950s, the party line was a common concept. Your phone was connected to all of your close neighbors’ telephones on one line. Imagine picking up your phone and hearing a conversation between your neighbor from across the street and your next door neighbor. Since they were talking, you could not place a call because they were using the line. Of course, if it was an emergency you could ask to use the line. This system had a very low level of instant gratification.

Technology advanced, and we had the home phone (on our own line, so we could use it whenever we pleased). It was, however, common courtesy to not call someone’s home phone after 8:30 or 9 P.M. You also had to share the phone with the rest of your family. Imagine trying to call your best friend to ask to hang out and your older sister is hanging on the line with her boyfriend. This is hardly instantly gratifying.

And then there were cell phones. People lost a lot of respect for the personal time and space of others. You can get calls on your cell phone 24 hours a day. Text messaging made this phenomenon even worse. This is all because people expect instant gratification. Why should they have to wait to get in contact with someone? With the advent of cellular devices, people came to expect to constantly be connected.

Over only 60 years, we’ve transformed from hardly expecting any kind of instant gratification to expecting it all the time. What could be next?