The perception power of mind is powerful that, through it we channel our thoughts in an optimistic or pessimistic track. It is where unconscious and subconscious supersede conscious. Shakespeare said "There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so". Minds are like parachute, they function only when open. When we receive information our mind seeks help from stereo-typed memories/registers that has been generated in our mind by our experiences. This is perception. A chain reaction of stereo- typing, called Ceiling Effects are created within our mind that does not allow it to open beyond the boundary formed by stereo-typing.
According to Winston Churchill "The price of greatness is responsibility over each of your thoughts". When such is the seriousness, mind seeks comfort by handling things that are familiar. It gets into cozy corner by knowing that its ideas are reinforced or are close to it. This gives it satisfaction and achievement, an "Eureka" sensation. Perceptions are guiding force for mind. The Eureka sensation has become more convenient with technology advancement. It provides short term wins, like a spurts of ecstasy.
Three Stages of Human Mind
Information received travels in split second, and human mind rushes to comprehend and reinforce through perception before making conclusions and decisions. When mixed information is received; it has to be matured enough to analyse and filter to separate them as good or bad / need or discard / authentic or fake. Cognitive ability has to be well developed for such analysis. Millennial generation youngsters and Alpha Generation kids are maturing faster than the previous generations, however their minds are still young and wet clay, hence could be molded improper if not guided appropriately. A key challenge that parent's face today in guiding their children is reliability & wise use of technology. According to Gordon Neufeld, a prominent Vancouver psychologist “Intuitively, we know that if we’re coercive, we’re going to get resistance.” When youngsters look for quick answers “You need a strong alpha presentation to inspire a child to trust you and depend upon you", if not they seek technology, where they are flooded with information. Data Overload.
Data Overload
Industrial Revolution was answer to Physical labor limitation; Cognitive limitation is becoming overcome in the current age of Information Revolution. This is disrupting everything. Disruptive Technology is the buzz word of day. Every global citizen is in one way or other disrupted by the fast evolving Information Revolution. Politicians and Economists are evaluating the impact. While the focus is more towards economic aspect; the impact it has on society is more to be worried about.
Google estimates 30exabytes (300 followed by 18 zeros) of data created by humans that is available in internet. This is more data than humans have created in previous 5000 years. "Alavuku Minjinal Amirthamum Nanju..." (even elixir turns poisonous when taken in excess) goes a Tamil saying. Every day there is bombardment with Gigabytes if not Megabytes of data. Sometimes same content has ironical information. For examples some websites publish chocolate causes pimples and another says its helps to reduce while another says it has no impact. If not guided correctly they will perceive wrong information and reaffirm those as their belief system. Once it gets seeded in their minds it becomes tough to unlearn. This data overload has serious impact on humans as individuals and humanity as a society.
Human mind takes two kind of decision making process. A Conscious one and Adaptive Unconscious one. The latter was a term coined by Daniel Wagner in 2002. Mind tunes it's adaptive unconscious decision making capabilities to ease and help to make faster conscious decisions. For tuning better adaptive unconscious decisions, there is need for better rational cognition, which comes from knowledge and experience. While Millennials and Alpha Generation are looking for quicker outcomes, too much information with less rational cognition leads to incorrect adaptive unconscious decisions.
Harmonious We
Other effect of data overload is at the other end of the spectrum, nurturing. When Nature (genetic) has a impact on the growth of the kid, nurturing has larger impact on them in today context. Thanks to technology, it targets mind at the wrong point. Mind gets attracted towards negative faster than positive, it is law of attraction. As is the role of the parent's to guide their children in developing their cognitive process, equally is that of those who post and forward information on the web. It is moral responsibility of each one of those who who upload data to web as they can make an positive or negative impact on the readers especially younger ones. Seeing this the current generation can equally grow up as morally responsible global citizens.
While it is good that governments and businesses are keen in making the workforce adapt to the fast changing trend; there seem to be less focus on the communal aspect of it. Data overload makes the Alpha Generation children and Millennial Generation youngsters rely less on their cognitive abilities, analyzing capability and rely more on information readily available on net without validating. These make them Confused; Indecisive; Unproductive; affected by Attention Deficit Trait (ADT) ultimately lowering performance and creativity. This might end innovation drive and make humans susceptible to digital slavery. Such individuals form more self-inclined principles.
Due to such individual traits; the future generations are forming into a Tumultuous Me Society where:-
1) Inhibited learning ability due to lack of relevant feedback
2) Increased Self-interested people
3) Relationship issues
4) Unable to embrace differences amicably
Information overload and ten ways to handle
Break Free
As with all advancements that mankind has seen, technology is two sided. If youngsters are not guided and taught to use it in the right way they can end up in a way that will nurture Human Digital Slaves in short HuDiSlavTM who form a Tumultuous Me society. In the whirlwind of Data Overload, those who synthesis it for necessary information intelligently and smartly will be able to make responsible netizens. Parents should be aware of the subliminal role of adaptive unconscious decision making side of mind psyche and its effect on their kids. They should focus on the ten ideas given in infographic and guide their children appropriately. This that will allow such netizens to break from Digital Slavery and form a Harmonious We Society.
