Contemplate, Filter the Static of Information Overload

It is difficult to shrug off what author Richard Saul Wurman called “information anxiety.” He defined it as the gap between what we understand and what we think we should understand. Driven by uncertainty and guilt, we allow ourselves to be inundated with information. As a result of this overload, he says, “We read without comprehending, see without perceiving, hear without listening.”

Isn’t there a time for silence as well as sound? For contemplation as well as the cacophony of everyday life? For thought before action? Leadership and vision must be cultivated away from the ceaseless static of information overload.

Isn’t that our problem: figuring out what’s really important amid the noise and confusion of modern society? John Milton said that wisdom’s best nurse is contemplation. Ours may indeed be an age that needs more contemplation and less random information.

You who are graduating have come to a point where it’s natural to pause and contemplate. Too many of your friends will let that opportunity slip away. To do so is to let the world set your priorities for you, with all the misleading clues it sends.

That’s the secret: Use those aspects of the media, indeed, all of modern society, that help you attain your highest aims--and don’t let the rest distract you from your goal. If you develop your priorities in hours of contemplation and solitude, deciding which is which won’t be all that difficult.