I was recently reading through Seth Godin‘s Permission Marketing when I found a quote that struck me as particularly poignant. It was actually in the introduction written by Don Peppers.

The truth is your whole problem comes down to a question of time and energy, doesn’t it? Technically, life is easier for you than it was for your parents, because so much of the drudge work is now done by machines. But for some reason you’re busier than ever, isn’t that right? And doesn’t it seem as though every day you get still busier?

How can this be? Simple. Because there are so many more claims on your attention, that’s why. You’re already overloaded with an embarrassment of opportunities to absorb your time and expend your funds doing things, watching things, using things. But every day even more opportunities are presented to you.

I think this is an interesting and common question. With all the steps we are taking forward, are we getting lost and overwhelmed in Web 2.0? Or are we just opening our eyes to a tremendous amount of opportunities? An “embarrassment of opportunities?”

UPDATE: I found an article in the Columbia Journalism Review titled Overload! that covers this topic.