Coping with information overload, especially as an information professional, has long been a favourite topic of mine. Take a look at this post in LiveJournal's blog sociology community.
"NEDS is a type of depression that is brought on by information overload, which leads to an erosion of close personal relationships," Sanders says. "The depression is triggered by a combination of guilt ['I can't absorb all this information'], stress ['I can't withstand all these interrupted demands'], and loneliness ['My life is me and my machine']."
I particularly liked the suggestion that if you and email each other twice in succession, that it's time for us to have a talk, face to face or on the phone. Everybody will have their own ideal point of balance of being sufficiently connected while not being over-exposed to online information or feeling disconnected from the real world or self. Information professionals always have more exposure, so it's important we develop good skills for coping with this.
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