Information Overload

I've written here before about my personal struggle with the internet as a powerful tool, but also as a Rabbit Hole in which one can free fall for hours, just like Alice.

This article insightfully assesses the massive surge of information and our corresponding poverty of attention. (Get ready to concentrate too, because, as if to challenge our abilities to focus, it's a long one!) Here is a quote to whet your appetite:

"What information consumes is rather obvious: It consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention effectively among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it." -Herbert A. Simon

How do you handle the torrential flood of information that greets you when you sit down at your computer each morning? I'm considering setting strict time limits for my online tasks, though I know these will prove difficult to stick to.