Short Takes: Information Overload, Active Investing, and more

1. According to a recent report, information overload costs workers 8 hours of productivity each week. They define information overload as the “disruption of the work day with irrelevant material, including e-mails, meetings, automated news feeds and Twitter.” The phrase “information overload” portrays the worker as a hapless victim of these information interruptions. This is silly. People compulsively check their Blackberries and iPhones out of boredom. Noise and visitors are interruptions; Twitter, email, and text messages can be ignored, but are just more interesting than the task at hand.

2. Where Does All My Money Go? hosts a guest article by a financial advisor with some clear thinking on the active versus passive investing debate.

3. Canadian Financial DIY has some fun with an analogy between inflation and alcohol.

4. Big Cajun Man tries to decide whether to drive, bike, join a car pool, or take the bus to his new job. Taking a car is certainly the easiest path.