Being overwhelmed by information is a developed world consumer problem which information technology companies will spend significant resources trying to solve given the significant opportunities for profit in this equation. It was also suggested that there is a generational component to this – whereby older generations are more likely to feel overwhelmed by the myriad of different potential sources of information and content, the young are more likely to metabolize these developments by employing new tools and techniques to effectively manage these information sources. It was predicted that private companies (both large corporations and start-ups) will invest significant amounts of money to develop services which will relieve the human brain of having to deal with functions and activities which are menial enough that they could be covered equally as well or better by a machine.
People increasingly rely upon social networks (e.g. Facebook and Twitter) and professional networks (LinkedIn) to filter, recommend and suggest information they might be interested in. This process also plays a part in undermining traditional broadcast news delivery channels and promoting more flexible on-demand style consumption of information and media.