Most people would agree that the level of stress is high in our society; many are worried about the present and the future. I posit that part of that anxiety is stoked by the speed at which many of us feel we are expected to absorb and respond to a panoply of information streams. A reaction to this reckless acceleration is the “Slow Information Movement” (SIM), founded by librarian Vanessa Kam, though the term “slow information” has been around since at least 2009. Based on a synthesis of my rudimentary research, “slow information” inclines towards the poles of certain dichotomies:
- Currency: Enduring over new
- Latency: More time between inputs over “one thing after another”
- Density: Higher information density over lower
- Length: Long-form over short
- Speed: Deliberate over fast
Alexandra Cain wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald: “It’s about reading books, taking the time to actually talk to people and — this is the part I love — making time to think.”
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