INFORMATION Overload – what it is and how to get rid of it:

• The high volume of information coming from sources such as the internet, 24-hour television and blogs has led to complaints of "information overload".

While this sounds like a new phenomenon, the term was first used in 1970 by Alvin Toffler, an author, who warned that the human brain did not have the capacity to take in, interpret and store increasingly large volumes of information.

• More recently, a psychiatrist at King's College London found that information overload can harm concentration just as much as marijuana, with men twice as likely to be distracted as women.

• Research found information overload can reduce a person's ability to focus just as much as losing a night's sleep.

• Psychologists who study visual processing and decision-making have shown the brain can cope with only about five messages at any one time.

Yes, absorbing large amounts of useless information can be a drain on your energy. I.m.h.o. there's only one useful antidote: Commitment

But you have to have some sort of plan, even the smallest is ok. If you don't have a plan, you drift in the wide ocean without any sense of direction. A plan gives you a fixed point, like an island. Stick to the plan, commit to idea's and information that supports the plan and you'll be fine. New ideas will come, even when you're not thinking about it. Creativity will return as the energy flows not into the water, but into the plans and ideas that you're attached to.

I'm not an expert, but this is how I work and it works for me

20 new items of information a day? Those folks haven't seen our happy Clipmarks home.

janclip, I like your approach. I think once there is commitment, there is a direction. An attractor that organizes the stream of information, yet leaves it open for exploration and discovery.

Exactly Thanks for adding your opinion to mine. Part of the whole idea is to be open for external input, to explore en discover what's around, in a constructive way. Commitment does indeed give direction and it also involves other people, so I think I should not limit my creativity to internal processes, but also use it to attach myself to other people's idea's f.i. If a certain idea or bit of information doesn't trigger creative energy, it's less likely for me to commit to that. You see, it's a circle without beginning or ending... But to be honest, sometimes it just a matter of doing your silly job.. LOL

POP for the clip and the great comments!

Great clip and comments. That's what I like about clipmarks you can follow and learn from the clips and even more from the comments.