Information overload is very real. So is laziness. As we became the “information age” talked about in books, something else occurred that was forewarned in those books — people quit using their own intellect.
Throughout the ages, information meant knowledge — the more factoids and truths you learned, the greater your baseline of information. And as was more often the case, people took that information and turned it into knowledge and they did so by asking questions like “how” and “why.” Transforming information into actual knowledge requires an active cognitive process taken beyond merely absorbing or storing facts, into consciously transforming it by giving actual thought to it.
The way we need to view information is to see it as raw material — in essence the “what” or, the unrefined factoid. The next part is solely up to the individual — growing that seedling of information into valuable knowledge through interpreting the why and the how.
Its important to remember that “back in the day,” information came at us in bits and pieces — one had to get educated or read books and news to get information. And because it was harder to get information back in the day, people valued it more and took the time to turn it into a tangible, valuable commodity called “knowledge”
Fast forward to modern times and its all gone haywire.
E.O Wilson wisely said, “We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom.” So true. Today, we have instant access to information and the potential to have incredible knowledge and wisdom right at our fingertips, yet so many of us are too lazy to actually read anything from start to finish.
It can be exasperating to encounter so many people who get their “knowledge and information” by reading the headline only. Are people just too lazy or ignorant to read a whole article to get the full picture? Its becoming obvious that more and more, people are tired of being told “the reality” by someone who didn’t read past the headline, or listen to more than just a 10-sound bite. Making the matter worse is the fact that so many people spread misinformation and even disinformation online, which is in essence lying. This behavior is negative and given the resources we have to increase knowledge, its pathetic.
Being a positive person who thrives in life, means being fully committed to self-improvement. It means having a desire to learn and share accurate knowledge and contributing good and positive things to this world. A few of the key traits of a positive person include:
Empathy: feeling and understanding the pain or joy of others
Compassion: having a sincere desire to help others
Honesty/Integrity: being truthful and keeping our word
Fairness: treating people fairly, justly and equitably, respecting their rights and dignity
Reliability: being someone others can count on to be consistently moral and ethical
Benevolent contribution: cultivating and sharing a positive energy back into society
Today is a great day to make the commitment to read more, learn more and expand our minds by taking the extra few minutes to read up on the news, so that we’re better equipped to bring about real and lasting positive change. Put out only good in the world and it will help to attract good back into your life.
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