The fast development of computer technology gives people tremendous amount of resources to obtain information quickly; for instance, the World Wide Web (WWW) is widely acknowledged as a resource, which can bring many gigabytes information to us. In addition, e-mail and newsletters provide us to a way to learn new knowledge. People are forced to accept information without filtering. The phenomena create a problem- information overload. Wheatley sates that the information should be free to generate, communicate, and interpret, and we should “recognize information's essential role in supporting self-organization” (p.166). If we fail to do so, “we will be unable to survive in this new world” (p. 166). Personally, I partially agree with her. I believe the distribution of information should be a freedom. However, a filter system should be created to teach people how to screen the information and convert to useful pieces. Today, there are so many fake information distributing on the internet. If we accept them without judge, a negative effect might happen. For example, not long ago, I remember there is an e-mail that using a famous company’s name to inform users a hidden virus file in their computer system. Many users believe that and they delete that file. Then, a serious problem happens. Their computers are crash. This story gives us a lesson. We live in the age of information overload; we need to verify the information. In other words, a self-awareness skill is necessary.
