text: "Our attention is the most precious resource we have," says Shenk. Well...I'm not sure everyone would agree.  But this is the way he would like to slice the whole matter of information technology, the media,  etc., etc., and that's fine.  Shenk's standpoint is amazingly isolated and  will make sense only to an elite ensconced in the same high fallutin' mix  of punditry/technology/leisure time he is.  Information overload, or  "data smog" as the author terms it, is certainly a relevant and  important area to explore, but Shenk, in is privileged world, really can't  nail down what might be so detrimental about it.  His examples illustrate  just how removed his is from the vast majority of American society:  minute-by-minute news reports diluting the quality of info and the ability  to sort it, not feeling so apt to respond to your friends' email because  you get too much, the end of patience? As he represents it in "the end  of patience," data smog really ain't no big woop--it's just some tacks  on the erogomic seats of a pampered minority into which Shenk seems to fit.   Where's the politics, I wonder?  How does this trivia fit into the lives  of Middle Americans or working people?  To the point, Shenk might benefit  from a step or two away from his computer.  Rubbing shoulders with the  common folk might hip him to serious problems like acne or Monday Night  Football
  