Impact of Information Overload on Students' Learning: An Empirical Approach

There is no doubt that in this age of information and technology, whole world is overloaded with relevant or irrelevant information. The term 'information overload' refers to different conditions, such as the quantity of information, the processing of information or the retrieval of information. The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of information overload on students' learning. A questionnaire was designed for data collection which contained both open ended and close ended questions. Data were collected from 360 randomly selected students of M.A. second year from the five departments of Institute of Education and Research, University of the Punjab, Lahore. Results revealed through descriptive and inferential statistics that most of the respondents preferred to use technology or computer generated information which provide visuals, illustrated text and power point presentations. Results further revealed that information overload do not affect students' learning somehow as their interpersonal and communication skills were strong and sharp enough.