In this era of information overload being disbursed on the Internet at warp speed and some might even suggest faster than the speed of light. The social networks and mass media have gone far beyond disbursing information by word of mouth. Yet, there is a downfall to this fast disbursement of information. Society sometimes has difficulty processing all of this information. Yes, society has fallen victim to processing, way too much information. Search engines on the Internet can provide as much information as you can research and handle. 

Some might say, in our hurry to gather as much information as possible, we may have neglected to examine the facts and instead assume it must be true if it appears on the news, or on the pages of Facebook, then it must be true. After all, “a picture is worth a thousands words”, isn’t it? 

Society must take heed, because at times mis-information gets disbursed with the facts. On many occasions a person has to be moved for their trial because too much information has been leaked to the public. 

The youth may be the most affected by this onslaught of information, because the youth often form their opinions by popular opinion. The media exposes our youth to sex, drugs and behaviors that may take an entire lifetime to comprehend. How does an eleven year old discern whether they should use birth control or not? However, some say arming them with this information are the tools they need to make informed decisions. While, others believe, it’s just too much information for an eleven year old to process.

In recent news coverage, in the state of California in the United States of America, the public has been over-saturated with the news of a rogue, ex police officer, killer on the loose for some time now. This news coverage has made the public aware of his murderous rampage, along with a detailed list of his manifesto. This man, Christopher Dorner is a killer and fugitive from the law. Frankly, that’s all the public needs to know. The public should not be privy to the reasons why Mr. Dorner started this murderous revenge rampage of killing police officers and their families. There’s just not any reason to justify these senseless homicides. In essence, the public is being bombarded with way too much information. 

It’s true, everyone has a story to tell. Should the public listen to these ramblings or just dismiss them as way too much information to process. Society processes this information and often it leads to even more questions that may never be answered. Why not concentrate on the facts and let sleeping dogs lie? The complaints of this killer does not change the fact that he has murdered an innocent young woman and her boyfriend, just because the young woman was the daughter of an officer that he felt had wronged him. Now, what sense does that make? Absolutely none!

Some argue, that it is the duty of the mass media to assault our senses with all of this information. Scandalous and sensational news is a rapidly growing entertainment industry. Who could ever imagine, that these current events would be part of our entertainment, each evening as we turn on the news?

Society may become immune to senseless killings and random acts of violence because society is frequently exposed to such information on the news. Why give exposure to these criminals? Do we really need to know what happened to them in their childhood? It’s not as though, knowing about their childhood would shed any light on their criminal act. Let’s face it, it’s way too much information. Some people, might even wonder if we have entered into the realm of the invasion of privacy. Some matters should be kept private because this knowledge could invite copy cats to enlist the same type of behavior.