The data on data is mind blowing. Forbes reported:
- Every Second there are 40,000 google searches (3.5 billion per day), and that’s only google.
- Every Minute we send 16 million texts, 156 million emails, and take 990,000 tinder swipes.
- Every Day we generate 2.5 quintillion data bytes, over 90% generated in last 2 years.
That was 2018, when predictions were that there would be 2.9 billion email users by 2019. Turned out to be 3.9 billion in 2019 and predicted to be 4.48 by 2024—unless of course emails get replaced by something else. That could happen, right?
The way things are going, anything could happen, and it is not at all clear how much will be the same, how much will be different, and how many of us will hit the information wall at some point and just say “Enough.”
Data Differences
We are not all alike when it comes to how much information we want, need, or can tolerate. One psychiatry professor said this about people’s responses to crisis in general, and life-threatening medical illness in particular: “The world is divided into 2 kinds of people: the ones who want to hear every possible detail, and the ones who just want to be told everything will be alright.” A recent study found that 1/3 of respondents preferred not to be given available information on whether their bodies had suffered damage from stress. In that same study, ¼ of participants did not want to know if the friend they gave their favorite book to ever read the book. Moreover, the study found that data avoidance is widespread and that most folks have at least one area of life—health, money, what other people are thinking—where they prefer to be uninformed.
Ignorance Preferred
People don’t want ‘to know’ because the sense organs send about 11 million bits of information per second to the brain for processing. The conscious mind handles only about 50 bits per second of it. It’s too much. TMI as they say. The other reason is that knowing leads to feelings that people don’t want to have to deal with. I can understand that. But the problem is…what if…what if being able to tolerate the information and corresponding feelings produced action that led to a better outcome than if we just stuck our head sn the sand.
Therefore…
As we found in last week’s post, worrying within reason, strategic worrying let’s say, tends to be associated with greater health and longevity. So how do we know what to let in and what to block out. My answer to everything—kick it upstairs to the brain’s executive functions. Then ask “Is there something to be done here.” If there is just do it and move on. (Power Breathing exercise to put the higher brain in charge on pulldown at https://madelaineweiss.com). And let us know what you found in the comments below.
Warm wishes,
Madelaine
Recent Comments