My Brain Might Be Obese

Did anyone notice my absence last Tuesday?  Really?  No one????

   ***crickets****

It's not that I didn't have "two thoughts". More to the point is I was bombarded with a lot of thoughts.

Occasionally, narrowing down what I feel like talking about is more of a task than just having one singular thought. Then there is the added component, I have to wrangle myself to actually plant myself  in front of the computer and write...and think...and draw.

As for where I look to  find some inspiration for a topic....my regular readers might remember,  I read a lot...books,magazines, newspapers, ....yep, lots of reading. Oh and there is all the time I  waste  spend on the computer AND  then there are the  daily news programs on TV.  Upon occasion I glean a few topical nuggets from friends or I happen to see or hear things as I navigate around  the real world interacting with people. Lots of thinking, weighing, analyzing, and Googling.   Yes...sometimes my brain is a very busy place.

Yes, I wear this to help me think

So how is it that too many thoughts leads to not writing a post?


Thought Number One: Infobesity or Information Overload


 Definition:
 "Information overload" (also known as infobesity) is a term popularized by Alvin Toffler in his bestselling 1970 book Future Shock. It refers to the difficulty a person can have making decisions because of the presence of too much information .

It turns out that having too many choices can lead to inefficiency and lack of productivity. Alvin Toffler's use of the term infobesity wasn't the first instance that someone described how too much information could be a deterrent to productivity.  The condition of "information overload" was originally hypothesized by George Miller in his PHD Dissertation written in 1956. Clearly, George was ahead of his time because he wouldn't of been bombarded with the gazillion bytes of info available at his fingertips via the Internet.  I have my doubts how thorough his dissertation could have been on the subject of information overload when he didn't have the advantage of being interrupted routinely  by colleagues sending him emails and tweets with  details of all their important data....You know things like funny pictures of their cats and what they  LIKE.

I am not exactly clear where the source of  George's information overload was coming from. What was the cause of his  infobesity?  Who or what could he blame?  Couldn't of been  the Internet. Could he of been overloaded from the TV?  My best guess is NO with just 3 stations broadcasting on a  limited schedule. How about Facebook? Twitter? Smart Phone? That would be NO, NO and NO.

BUT while George might not have truly had the full scope of being overwhelmed with information, he clearly had a premonition as to what the future might look like. 

The onslaught of information is never ending today.  We are alerted  to every late-breaking, just-in, trending now,  if we have told you once we must repeat it 1000 times, bits of news and information.  

Thought Number Two:  Information versus Entertainment

SOOOOO...my thought here is that all day...everyday ....we are recipients of a steady stream of information. Are we benefiting from it?  Are we smarter and better informed?  OR are we being steadily fed tidbits to amuse and/or entertain us?

Under the guise of serious research any given week, I read about some statistic that was just released as a result of a STUDY or a POLL.  At first blush, these imply that these are important studies that give us some insight to our world. But how serious should we take some of this information?

FOR EXAMPLE:

Last week I was reading about  a Duke University study that states WOMEN WAKE UP GRUMPIER THAN MEN.
In case you weren't already aware of  who the grumpy one in your household is, there is a study that shows that  woman need more sleep, they have more sleep related health issues and they sleep less then men.  (Of course, we are grumpy...we are tired.)

In another study, Brigham Young University did a  research project  headed by Ross Flom, that tells us that babies as young as 5 months old can read the emotions of other babies.   This study was conducted with 40 babies.  Half of them were 3.5 months old and half were 5 months old.  Researchers put them in front of videos showing happy babies and crying babies.  The crux of it is that the babies didn't like looking at crying babies.  ( but then who does?)

Another study...conducted by CouponCodes4U polled more than 2100 men to find out what shoe is the ugliest shoe on women.  Turns out men are surprisingly opinionated about what shoes women wear.  In fact, 43 percent of the men said they want to have input as to which shoes their wives/girlfriends wear. (little note to those 43percent...you might want to check your lady's purse to see if some of your testosterone is in there.....for those of you that knew what kitten heels are, don't bother looking. Yours is gone forever. )

BUT because I am all about imparting valuable information here is the list of the ugliest shoes.

The wedge is the UGLIEST shoe

1. Wedge shoes - 71%

2. Uggs - 67%

3. Crocs - 63%

4. Platforms - 58%

5. Flip flops - 55%

6. Moccasins - 49%

7. Mary Janes - 42%

8. Ballet shoes - 37%

9. Kitten heels - 34%

10. Sneakers - 25%

Now that is some majorly important information!!!

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