At what point does information overload hinder our decision making? — Deus

I suppose you mean what Wikipedia calls "Information overload (also known as infobesity, infoxication, information anxiety, and information explosion is the difficulty in understanding an issue and effectively making decisions when one has too much information (TMI) about that issue".

I had never heard this term before or thought that it could consist a serious problem, despite of being an IT person! :smile:

Data (information) can be and sometimes need to be processed, esp. filtered based on one's needs, i.e. how is one to use of the information. It might have to be evaluated based mainly on two things: usefulness and validity (in that order). And this process depends on mainly two factors: knowledge (acquaintance with data) and logic (reasoning about data). Analysis and evaluation may be also involved in the process.

This process, in simple cases, can be easily done and is actually done by everyone and on a constant and everyday basis. In complicated cases, e.g. in business decisions, a rigorous process may be necessary, involving special analysis and evaluation tools, testing, sampling (statistics), etc.

The complexity of the methods used in processing information decision making depend on the complexity of the case and the purpose of collecting information (its use or uses).

A last point: It's not always logic that prevails in decision making. Personal preferences and emotional factors may be equally strong "deciders". Indeed, as a rule, consumers buy goods according to personal preferences or emotional factors, in contrast to businesses, for which buying is based primary on logic. This simplifies greatly the processing of information in decision making.

Various recent technological leaps has allowed us to have pretty much access any useful data or information to aid our decision making almost instantly.

At what point does information overload hinder our decision making? — Deus

At the point where it makes it harder, and not easier, to determine what is "useful data"....

Good reply. In the face of it it’s ultimately the human agent which will make the decision and act upon the multitude of information whether that be right or wrong is a subject for another topic.

Generally when we have more than 3 or 4 choices.

Right.