I’ve been struggling a lot over the past week. I’m feeling very overwhelmed and lost. Suddenly the world is feeling way, way to big and scary, and I’ve lost all my confidence (even though I’ve been sleeping well!). I think it has something to do with the internet and access to information.
In the old days(pre-internet), accessing information was relatively limited and local. You could read the newspaper, watch the 4 or 5 local free to air TV channels, subscribe to magazines in your chosen field of expertise, read books, attend local courses etc etc. Everything was relatively local and/or narrow. Through default, your exposure to information was limited and generally stayed within the boundaries of being local in nature. It was manageable and you generally felt in control of it.
Now, with the internet we have access to anything we could think of with a few clicks of a button. There are so many experts and smart people and so much information, so much I don’t know, so much I should know, so many things I’m not good at, so many things I do wrong or have done wrong…so much information and expertise overload! Don’t get me wrong, it is actually invaluable having access to so much information from anywhere/anyone in the world…and in fact, helps to put the power back into the hands of the people(that’s why so many governments are fearful of it!)…but there definitely, to me at least, seems to be a downside. The downside is that because we have the ability to access all this information, it feels like we have an obligation to know it all as well, or at least find out about it. In addition, because we have access to every other persons thoughts, opinions and ideas it feels like there is no opportunity to have your own original thought or opinion. If you come up with something you think is original just google it and at least 10 other people have already thought of it…how demoralising. 
The interesting thing is that you often hear that the world is getting smaller, through the internet we can all connect with each other globally as though we live in one big community. Well, I don’t think I want to live in a community of $7B people…I want to be an individual and not the 10th decimal place of a statistic. Instead of the internet empowering the people is it, in fact, dis-empowering them? Is it only those that have the “egos” to think they are experts that will be heard…whether they have any type of expertise or not?
Or maybe I’ve just had a “downer” week and things will look better tomorrow!
Thank you for the comment on my post today. I read this post of yours and it was as if I was reading my own thoughts. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with this. The thing with me is, I generally understand all of this and I’m ok with my position in life and where I am. But sometimes, like today, it all seems a bit much.
You wrote “In addition, because we have access to every other persons thoughts, opinions and ideas it feels like there is no opportunity to have your own original thought or opinion.” I couldn’t agree more. I wish I had an answer to all of this, but I fear there isn’t an answer to be found. I think we just need to find a way to be at peace in our own little part of this incredibly noisy world, and maybe that requires us to sometimes just ‘log off’, ‘power down’, and be quiet for while.
good luck out there!
Thanks.
By the way, I’m feeling a little more upbeat today. It really helped reading your stuff yesterday…I didn’t feel so alone…thanks!