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In the last several decades, at an ever-increasing rate, life has become immensely more fast-paced and complex due to an explosion in the amount of information available to the average person. This information explosion has in numerous ways been responsible for dramatic increases in the quality of life for many people. As with any other powerful tool, though, instant information access is best used when used wisely and in moderation.

Those electronic devices which can bring so much complexity and confusion to your life — phones, computers, pagers, televisions, radios — all have a very powerful feature which unfortunately is not fully appreciated or used by the very people who could benefit most from it. The feature is not at all difficult to learn how to use, and in fact it is accessed by use of a simple button or switch which is common to all those devices. The name of this button is a testament to the real power of this feature, because the button is called the POWER button.

Simply by pressing the POWER button you can activate the enormously powerful feature of turning the devices OFF. Imagine spending two hours with no telephone, no computer, no radio, television, CD or MP3 player, no VCR, no DVD, no wristwatch, no PDA. Consider how it would be to go several hours without the latest update from CNN, without knowing the minute-by-minute movements of the NASDAQ Composite Index.

It’s great to have instant access to so much information. Information can be an extremely powerful tool, something which can be leveraged to enormous benefit. Yet it is certainly possible to get too much of a good thing. The fact is, much of what you know about you cannot do anything about, and that leads to a profound sense of frustration. So there is real value in putting all that information into perspective. In fact, putting it into perspective can transform it from being frustrating and anxiety producing into being more powerful and valuable.

The way to put it into perspective is to give yourself time to process it all, to think about what it means for your life, to consider it in light of your most deeply held values and purposes. And that’s not something you can do while it is streaming in unabated.
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