Information Overload!

I found one of the more interesting articles that I read as part of my research to be 'Explaining the Relationship between Internet Use and Interpersonal Trust: Taking into Account Motivation and Information Overload' by Beaudoin. This is possibly due to the fact that I was in the midst of information overload as I was conducting my research! I found that:

"The inverse path from perceived information overload to interpersonal trust makes sense in that people's perceptions of information overload can lead to the termination and diminished effects of information processing (Hiltz & Turoff, 1985; Rogers & Agarwala-Rogers, 1975). While Internet use predicts interpersonal trust, it appears that this development can be undermined during instances of information overload."

Was an applicable quote to experiences that I have had while researching using the Internet. I often experience a great degree of information overload while extracting information from the web. This overload leads to a condition of distrust of the information that I am reading. Publishers on the Internet are often very willing to express their opinions but there is no accountability to correlate them to existing opinions. Piling all of these opinions into the various blogs, forums, and websites of the Internet makes searches for information often return many many results, without corrolation between the sources or frequently any follow-up as ideas are objected to.

Researchers should bear this in mind as they are seeking information on the web. Using good researching skills is imperative as is maintaining a level mind.