I cannot keep up with the community groups that I have joined. I get only weekly email updates about my linkedin groups and I get no fewer than 15 updates with sometimes 40+ conversations that I feel guilty I have not participated in.

It is similar for my facebook groups, the professionals I follow in twitter, my NetNewsWire RSS feeds and my email. I simply can’t keep up. I try to read regularly and I try to condense the information I am consuming into blog posts to share but the volume of information is so great, my mind wonders from one topic to the next and I can’t always decide which is the most interesting, important or relevant to post.

I read somewhere that the average 7 year old child has consumed more visual and audio stimulation (media) than an 80 year old would have only 20 years ago. How does the introduction of the internet and multi-channel consumption shape who we are as people? I’m just talking about information and access to it, does it make us more curious or more lazy? We know absolutely that we have become less active since technology has revolutionised our behaviour, “convenience” is the word best used but it just means easier and faster.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the internet, but it overwhelms me sometimes. This morning is one of those days. I don’t know where to start. I browse through my RSS feeds and I can’t focus. I have notes from the last week for blog ideas but nothing is forming properly in my mind.

Bare with me for I am never speechless for long.

[UPDATE 29 Nov 2011] I cam across this video and thought it captured exactly what I sometimes feel while putting it into perspective. It’s not the information’s fault that we are over-indulging. I just need a better system for how and when I consume the vast amount of information on the web.