Every now and then, I wonder where the time goes.  Then I remember Web 2.0 and all becomes clear.  If you're not careful, Web 2.0 has made it very easy to continuously use small amounts of time, with little to no discernable return value.  Don't get me wrong, I love the Internet as much as anyone (and probably more than most), but with today's environment, I often find it's necessary to pro-actively manage information overload or risk burnout.  Sometimes it's enough just to step back and evaluate what I'm getting out of the sites that I use.  Here are a few tips that help me.

1) Choose a few reliable information sources and stick with them.

One of the biggest issues I have to manage is the accumulation of news sources and the resulting flood of news.  What normally happens is that I find that someone I respect is reading a source I have never seen.  I subscribe but of course that person is also reading three sources I've never seen.  The next thing I know, I'm subscribed to thirty new blogs, mostly outside my sphere of expertise.  Figure out which information sources you need and lose the rest. 

For instance, ScottGu is pretty much the .Net oracle.  I can cut out about 90% of the other .Net blogs because the only information I'll get from them is "This is happening" about an hour after Scott announces it first.  Find the "alpha sources" generating all the buzz, and cut out the middle men.  Mine include Coding Horror and Joel Spolsky.  I've found that TechMeme does a great job of aggregating the tech news that I might have missed.  If you add in the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times, you probably have my list of alpha sources.  I'm not Scoble and I'm pretty sure you're not either.  Subscribing to 300 feeds isn't going to make you brilliant and charming, it's probably just going to make you unproductive.

2) Avoid the link blogs.

I don't have a problem with Digg, Reddit, Fark and Slashdot.  I could even be called a fan, but subscribing to these feeds is a recipe for disaster.  They're basically Internet junk food.  Tons of content but little substance.  There's almost no way anybody can read everything that comes out on these sites AND be productive during the day.  Remember, almost none of this content will help you do your job and your life will still be the same without it tomorrow.  That being said, save them until that time you're bored at home and just want to surf. 

3) Manage Your Social Networks.  Don't let them manage you.

Like everybody else, I'm on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter.  It started years ago, after the tenth time someone sent me a link to something that I couldn't get to until I took my place in the herd.  The main benefit of MySpace and Facebook appears to be to allow people that I didn't really miss in the first place to find me again.  Excellent. 

LinkedIn is a bit different.  These days, when most people commonly move or change companies every few years, LinkedIn provides a stable hub.  At the very least, it gives me a good feeling to be able to check in on people and see they're doing okay. 

That leaves Twitter.  Twitter has the capability of being the worst distraction ever.  However, for the moment, I think the pros outweigh the cons.  Nowhere else do you get the instant access that you get to the thoughts of everyone from your buddy to some great mind.  For me, it's a great place to take the pulse of the tech sphere right now, at this instant.

In general, I've managed to minimize the potential time sink of these sites by keeping them up-to-date but not adding much customization or installing extra applications.  The best tip I have is to turn off the notifications.  Check the sites when you have time and interest, not when they email you demanding your attention.

4) Figure out what data to save.

Think about data like old stuff and your life as a closet.  We geeks in particular are notorious pack-rats.  We're constantly bookmarking things, saving email, saving files, etc.  Most of this information is good for a few months or so and then we'll never need it again.  Even worse, hard drives are huge now and your brain never runs out of space (strictly speaking) so they both just get more and more cluttered.  Just like a real closet, it makes things harder to find and after a while you'd rather just give up than go looking for something.  The next time you get ready to save a document or bookmark something, stop and think about whether it will mean anything when you look at it in a year and have none of the context that you have now.  Go through the stuff you do keep every year or so.  I have one box of physical records and about ten documents on Google Docs that I use regularly.  I make an exception for photos, of which I have far too many.  It makes life a lot easier without all the extra crap.

5) Come to grips with the fact that you're going to miss stuff.

This is probably the most important thing I can stress.  All the other tips support the fact that you can't read, remember, process and file everything.  Even if it's physically possible, it can't be very healthy.  There's a temptation in today's information society to constantly stay vigilant.  It's hard not to feel like you're behind.  Just stop, look at your reader.  See those 200+ items?  Look at Outlook.  See those 30+ emails?  If you can just get through them now, it'll be okay, right?  Unfortunately, they'll be back tomorrow.  There will always be more news and more email.  Handle the important stuff first, what you can second, and let the rest go.

6) Find a few things to make you laugh.

Never underestimate the power of of a good smile.  I subscribe to Penny Arcade, XKCD and Pearls Before Swine.  It gives me a quick smile and something to look forward to when I open my feed reader in the morning.

So that's it.  For the most part, that's my strategy for coping with information overload.  Prioritize the stuff that is important, don't be afraid to cut out the stuff that isn't, remember to laugh, and don't let the forward motion of the crowd drive you crazy.  Hope it helps.