ARE YOU AN INFORMATION ADDICT?

I’m sure that if you are reading this you are relatively computer literate and possibly, like myself, tied to a computer for quite a few hours per day.

I never imagined, even a few years ago, that my iPad would become a core part of my business and personal life. In some ways we are encouraged to believe that this technology is a source of empowerment and helps us connect to others and organise our lives. Yet we all know how big a distraction it can be too. Distracting us from connecting with family and friends or other important activities which we value.

As well as the distraction issue, there is also the question of how much we become addicted to these machines in a variety of ways. My “addiction” is organising articles about hypnotherapy and psychology on my iPad and I was made aware of this recently when iTunes decided to delete some files which I had not backed up. I don’t know if you’ve experienced that hollow sickening feeling in your stomach when you know you’ve lost data for good. It’s not a pleasant sensation but it was revealing to me just how much I am attached to all that data like a squirrel, just about to hibernate, hoarding acorns. Perhaps that is where that tendency to hoard information comes from – our biological urge to save food and resources for hard times ahead. Perhaps that’s also one of the driving forces of consumerism – an emotionally driven appetite to keep buying even when we rationally can acknowledge we have more than enough. The stone age person inside of us is fearful of times of shortages.

I’m happy to report that I did not have an emotional meltdown over my loss of data. In some ways I was relieved that I was free of it and from now on I have decided to hoard information that is truly valuable rather than that which I will probably never look at again.