i am a slow, long-distance runner. What I find particularly appealing about running is that it is so low-tech. The only piece of gear I own is a watch that keeps track of how long I've been running. Well, until now. I just succumbed to the siren's call of technology and bought a gizmo that can figure out not only the exact distance I have run, but also my current speed. (It's a Nike SDM Triax 100, for you gear-heads.) I'm hoping that it will inspire me to pick up my pace, but the only resultI have seen so far is that I'm now risking life and limb by looking at my watch every ten seconds. I'm just the latest casualty of the dreaded TMI--Too Much Information--syndrome. I became acutely aware of TMI when I read about a study by researchers at Hokkaido University's School of Medicine. It seems that twenty-somethings are having trouble remembering new information and distinguishing between important and unimportant information. Then, the May 14th Washington Post carried a story on the growing number of people who can read but choose not to--aliteracy, as it were. While MTV, the Web, and general information overload are all blamed for these phenomena, I wonder whether it is really more just an issue of teaching people how to think about and evaluate information. We are immersed in a haze of information; grocery carts display ads while you walk down the aisle, elevators show news clips as you ride up to your office, your cell phone pages you if your flight is delayed, your Blackberry email device letsyou stay in touch 24/7/365. Being bombarded with these information bits--infoids--has trained us to tune them all out. Information has become background noise. (The best thing about the express train from London's Heathrow airport to downtown London is that there are Quiet Zone cars that do not permit cell phones, and in which laptops and other electronic gadgetry are frowned upon. Imagine that.
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