Simple.. Frugal.. Content

It goes without saying that in this day and age, the amount of information we face on a minute by minute basis is overwhelming – to say the least.

There is a middle way between being a luddite and a total information junkie:

5 Ways To Simplify Information Overload:

1. Surfing The Web: Limit your time spent reading websites, RSS feeds, etc.  Do you really need to spend hours on all the sites you visit? Probably not.  Get online, get the information you need, and get going. Simplify.
2. SmartPhones: Stop playing with the SmartPhone. How much of the time spent using one is productive work, and how much is a waste of time? Wasted time = Time you could be using doing something productive.
3. Email: Clean out that inbox.  Getting too many emails? Unsubscribe, filter, or block. Politely ask family and friends not to forward chain letters.  Simplify the inbox; It has no power over you unless you let it.
4. Chat/Twitter/Facebook/Whatever: I mean no offense by this, but chances are great that most people aren’t interested in reading you tweeting about your bagel and latte. These social networking sites are successful because they are the ultimate ego pleaser. That’s all fine and dandy.. until you realize you’ve spent a better part of your life on those networks wasting away.  If you must participate in social networks, a few updates will suffice.  Don’t become addicted.
5. Online Games: I used to joke that Second Life is for people with no life.  How far from the truth is that? Do you really want to spend your limited existence on earth in a video game? They are fun, interesting, mesmerizing.. And therein lies the problem. You wake up one day, in the real world, and say, “Where did my First Life go?”

And there you have it.  These are just my opinions of course, and ones that I have found useful for me personally.  Hopefully these common sense steps can be of use for you as well.