Okay, they’re not really overlords – but it alliterated so nicely. This NYT article talks about how Microsoft, Intel, Google and I.B.M. have formed a nonprofit, the Information Overload Research Group (let’s just call them the Overlords), to study the problem of information overload and find ways to help people deal with the “digital deluge.” The article talks about some of the overload issues, especially what it calls “email addiction.”
If your email intervention, or other overload issue, can’t wait for the Overlords’ findings, Google’s Blogoscoped has these tips including a video called “Inbox Zero.” Not sure how to recognize information overload? David Shenk, who literally wrote the book on the subject, has this encyclopedia entry that may help. Lots of people have been discussing this for quite a while – Shenk’s book is ten years old, and the image in this post is from this 2003 math magazine.