Too Much Information? : An analysis of the concept information overload in view of the emerging information society

This paper deals with the concept "Information Overload" (IO). It describes the intellectualcontent of the idea as well as its supposed domains of activity. Furthermore it problemizes theimage of "Information", "Information Society" and other concepts related to those phenomenons.A division by two fundamental different distinctions of IO are being made. InformationOverload serves as a name for:I. An information-intensive environment.II. A spectrum of different psychic reactions to the environment.As for the supposed domains of activity it is also divided into two basically different categories:I. The specific information-intensive environment.II. Information overload as a major symtom of modem society.One hypothesis proposed is: When a society is overcrowded with information, the meaning ofspecific information tend to be fragmentized to individuals in that society. Therefore, it ismultiple fragments of multiple meanings that serve as a base in those persons interpretationsof reality