It has been awhile, but I am still thinking about B. L. Ochman’s post concerning too much email. A computer can receive and store information at a much greater rate than we can process information. To get value from the information stored we still have to do the reception that counts, process the information and attach meaning to it.

It seems that in the contemporary world we are all seeking attention yet find it difficult to sort through what we want to pay attention to ourselves. The scarce resource is “attending” and the time it takes to paying attention to anything.

Humans are still, and as I see it will always be, the “meaning making” component of information technology. The limiting resource then, is not the speed of our computers, but rather the speed of each human attending to and making meaning about the things they choose to focus on.

An interesting note, to me at least, is that in counseling I spend considerable time helping people clarify the meaning(s) they have attached to events in their own life. That process takes time and focus.