Home Subjects Archives Quotations
Search: Search Tips

information fatigue syndrome n. The weariness and stress that result from having to deal with excessive amounts of information. Also: IFS.

Example Citation:
Psychologist Dr David Lewis, who was involved in preparing the report, suggested that a new phenomenon, information fatigue syndrome, had emerged as a direct result of the information revolution. Symptoms might include the paralysis of the analytical capacity, constant searches for more information, increased anxiety and sleeplessness, as well as increasing self-doubt in decision-making.
—Nick Hudson, "Managers 'Suffering from Info Overload'," Press Association Newsfile, October 14, 1996

Earliest Citation:
However, this does not mean the book cannot be improved upon. Mr Edmund Tan, a consultant with compensation experts Hay Management Consultants, suggests one more talent should be added to this list — How to filter information effectively.

"Prof Drucker's guidelines still hold true and all these talents are still, if not more, necessary in today's fast-paced world. But with so much bombardment of information, we sometimes tend to suffer from information fatigue-syndrome.

"Maybe he should add a sixth talent on how to to be selective about the information we receive," he says.
—S. Tsering Bhalla, "Hot tips from The Effective Executive," The Straits Times, October 5, 1994

Related Words:
ambient findability
attention economics
Dorito syndrome
e-mail fatigue
feature fatigue
information environmentalism
information foraging
information pollution
information scent
information tamer
informavore
Jane Wayne syndrome
locked-in syndrome
newsfasting
password fatigue
perfect programmer syndrome
Pierre Salinger syndrome
sedentary death syndrome
social networking fatigue
threat fatigue

Subject Categories:
Computers - Data
Science - Diseases and Syndromes
Sociology - Anger and Anxiety

Posted on October 17, 1996


 Recent posts:
  jingle mail
  tuxeda
  boreout
  scuppie
  allergy bullying
  IMBY
  agflation
  mullet strategy
  walkshed
  daughter track
 Alphabetical archives:
  A B C D E F G H I
  J K L M N O P Q R
  S T U V W X Y Z #
 Other links:
Top 100 Words

Recent Words

Recent Quotes

Word Spy, The Book

Word Spy Citations

Feedback

My Favorite Words

My Neologisms

Paul McFedries



Copyright © 1995 - 2008 Paul McFedries and Logophilia Limited