Information Pollution

“Information pollution is a worldwide scourge that afflicts not just travelers but everyone. In the United States, for example, you can’t buy a lawnmower without a label saying that you’re not supposed to mow your feet. |Most instruction manuals are littered with “important” warnings that caution against obvious stupidities, burying actual dangers amid a mass of irrelevancy. An out-of-control legal system has made a joke of the entire warnings concept; products are now less safe because nobody bothers to read warnings anymore. | In information foraging terms, information pollution is like packing the forest with cardboard rabbits: frustrated wolves are bound to hunt elsewhere.” Jakob Nielsen —Information Pollution (Alert Box)

While this article doesn’t say anything that hasn’t already been said, Nielsen’s usual no-nonsense, efficient style makes the point very clearly.