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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.
Pollution is a large problem and is growing rapidly. 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. The term acquired particular relevance in 2003 when Jakob Nielsen, a leading web usability expert, published a number of articles discussing the topic. However, as early as 1971 researchers were expressing doubts about the negative effects of having to recover “valuable nodules from a slurry of garbage in which it is a randomly dispersed minor component.” 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.[1] 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.
The use of the term information pollution also draws attention to the parallels between the information revolution that began in the last quarter of the 20th century and the industrial revolution of the 18th-19th century. Information pollution is seen as the equivalent of the environmental pollution generated by industrial processes. Some authors claim that we are facing an information overload crisis of global proportions, in the same scale of the threats faced by the environment. Others have expressed the need for the development of an information ecology to mirror environmental management practices.

Causes and sources

Cultural factors

A number of cultural factors have contributed to the growth of information pollution:
Information has been seen traditionally as a good thing. We are used to statements like “you cannot have too much information”, “the more information the better” and “information is power”. The publishing and marketing industries have been used to printing excessive copies of books, magazines and brochures regardless of customer demand, just in case they were needed.
As new technologies made it easier for information to reach the furthest corners of the planets, we have seen a democratisation of information sharing. This is perceived as a sign of progress and individual empowerment, as well as a positive step to bridge the divide between the information poor and the information rich. However, it also has the effect of increasing the volume of information in circulation and making it more difficult to separate valuable from worthless material.

The role of information technology

As already mentioned, information pollution can exist without technology, but the technological advances of the 20th century and, in particular, the internet have played a key role in the increase of information pollution. Blogs, social networks, personal websites and mobile technology all contribute to increased “noise” levels. Some technologies are seen as especially intrusive (or polluting), for example instant messaging. Sometimes, the level of pollution caused depends on the environment in which the tool is being used. For example e-mail is likely to cause more information pollution when used in a corporate environment than in a private setting. Mobile phones are likely to be particularly disruptive when used in a confined space like a train carriage.


How to prevent this?
  1. Make sure that the author of the information is believable 
  2. Take the information from the legal domain or extension; example : *.go.id*, *.sch.id*, etc.
  3. See the date of information being updated.
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_pollution#Causes_and_sources