ABSTRACT
It is the end of the semester, and students in a senior-level internship class are STRESSED OUT! Not only are they preparing to graduate, but they are finishing their internships, interviewing for jobs, and studying for final exams. While graduation is certainly a time in peoples’ lives when they expect to be overwhelmed, these feelings also occur during our daily lives as well. Many people often report feelings of having too much information, pressures to respond to others, and overwhelming to-do lists. When was the last time you sat through a class and by the time it was over you had received ten, twenty, or even fifty text messages? All these messages could have made you happy, but they could also add to your feelings of being overloaded. This chapter explores issues of overload and centers on a specific type of excessive “load” defined as “the extent to which, in a given period of time, an organization’s members perceive more quantity, complexity, and/or equivocality in the information than an individual desires, needs, or can handle in the process of communication” (Chung & Goldhaber, 1991, p. 8). By dissecting this common perception, you will learn how to consider different factors that can contribute to the feeling of being overloaded with information and communication. This knowledge can help you in college, graduate or professional school, and when you transition into the workplace.
