什么是“信息污染”？

在电脑前工作的时候会时不时刷新一下微博？在某个网站注册登录过一次之后，就会经常收到他们的推广邮件？在信息无处不在的时代，信息污染也已经随处可见了。

Information pollution (also referred to as "info pollution") is the contamination of information supply with irrelevant, redundant, unsolicited and low-value information. The spread of useless and undesirable information can have a detrimental effect on human activities. It is considered one of the adverse effects of the information revolution.

信息污染（information pollution或info pollution）指信息源被大量无关的、多余的、强行介入的低价值信息所浸染的现象。那些无用和不受欢迎的信息传播会对人类行为产生不利影响。

The majority of the modern descriptions of information pollution apply to computer based communication methods, such as e-mail, instant messaging (IM) and RSS feeds. People use information in order to make decisions and adapt to circumstances. Yet, cognitive studies have demonstrated that there is only so much information human beings can process before the quality of their decisions begins to deteriorate. The excess of information is commonly known as information overload and it can lead to decision paralysis, where the person is unable to make a judgment as they cannot see what is relevant anymore. Although technology has clearly exacerbated the problem, it is not the only cause of information pollution. Anything that distracts our attention from the essential facts that we need to perform a task or make a decision could be considered an information pollutant. (Source: Wikipedia)

现在所说的信息污染大部分都与基于计算机的通讯方式有关，比如电子邮件、即时通讯和RSS订阅。人们使用信息的目的是为了做出决策和因地制宜。但与此同时，认知领域的研究也发现，人类在做正确高效的决策时只能处理一定量的信息。信息超载会导致决策机制瘫痪，因为人类在接收到大量信息后已经无法分辨哪些信息是与其决策相关的。虽然各类技术使得信息超载问题更加严重，但技术并不是产生信息污染的唯一诱因。任何使我们从完成任务和作出决策所需的基础事实上分神的因素都可被称为信息污染源。

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