A business research firm reports an estimated $650 Billion lost in productivity due to information overload. An engineer at Intel who studies computer productivity estimates about 8 hours a week is lost because of information overload.

According to Steve Lohr, in a NYT Bits posting, “The information-overload toll is largely a byproduct of workers grappling with the growing tide of e-mail, instant messages, cellphone calls, wikis, blogs and the like.”

Email, instant messages, cellphone calls, wikis, blogs and the like. Wikis and blogs are a lot like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube. Kids use all of these same tools. So it is hard to imagine that they aren’t being affected in the same ways. Is information overload affecting their studies and lowering grades? Is it shaping them in negative ways?

Some suggest that kids are growing up in this multimedia world and are better multitaskers. What is a better multitasker? If multitasking is the goal, then I am sure that today’s kids are indeed better at doing more than one thing at once. But if the goal is higher productivity in learning and better grades, multitasking isn’t your friend.

Are moms and dads being affected by information overload? When Dad comes home with his bluetooth headset attached and he’s still talking to his business associate, is he being somewhat neglectful of his family? Is the mother sending a negative message to her kids when she has to interrupt reading to them on the couch because her crackberry just beckoned to her with it’s electronic chirp?

How does your family cope with information overload and the interference of all of the gadgets?