Surfers suffer from data overload

Sixty-two per cent of surfers feel that the strain of dealing with the wealth of information contained on the web is having a detrimental effect on their lives, a report has found. Research from Yahoo also found that four in five of the 1,000 people they surveyed thought they were suffering from 'information overload'. Feelings of stress, lack of confidence, irritability, anxiety, loss of appetite and insomnia were some of the symptoms described by those who thought the web was having a negative impact on them. Kristof Fahy of Yahoo said: "With the explosion of the internet, people are having to sift through increasing volumes of unfiltered information which can have a negative impact on their lives. "One by-product of the digital generation is Information Fatigue Syndrome, which is affecting more than half of internet users in the UK," Fahy continued. Yahoo is due to launch its redesigned homepage soon, which promises to be more customisable with a cleaner layout. http://uk.yahoo.com