Why You Feel the Way You Do  In an excerpt from his book, "Data
Smog," David Shenk explains why the surplus of information
available through technology each day stresses us out and
impairs our ability to make decisions.  Nope, you're not
imagining it--the tsunami of information pounding away at us is
making all of us more anxious, less effective, and sometimes
even sick. Knowing why is step one toward recovery   Information
used to be as rare and precious as gold.  It is estimated that
one weekday edition of today's New York Times contains more
information than the average person in 17th-century England was
likely to come across in an entire lifetime. Now information is
so inexpensive and plentiful that most of it ends up being
remaindered and shredded, as if it were worthless garbage. The
first great paradox of the information glut is that we are
becoming so information rich that we take much of what we have
for granted.  Still, the concept of too much information seems
odd and vaguely inhuman. That is becau