Drowning in tweets and email? Here's help

Social media, cloud computing, digital everything.

These and other big shifts mean workers, swimming in data, need new tools and skills to manage it. Indeed, "cognitive load management" -- "the ability to effectively filter and focus on what's important" -- is one of 10 key skills discussed in the "Future Work Skills 2020" report from the Institute for the Future, a Palo Alto-based nonprofit research group.

While workers certainly need to be clear on priorities, Tracey Wilen-Daugenti says, it's also essential to develop "technical literacy, as the more literate you become , the more you can manage the overload and become intuitive at what tools make sense," where to go for help, what to eliminate.

Wilen-Daugenti, who grew up in Dix Hills, is managing director of the University of Phoenix Research Institute, which commissioned the report.

So plan on investing time and focus in learning new technologies, mastering digital tools, finding shortcuts, as well as stepping back and reviewing some basics. Here are a few approaches.

Curate your personal data: "Curation is about selection, organization, presentation and evolution," writes Steven Rosenbaum, in "Curation Nation -- How to Win in a World Where Consumers Are Creators" (McGraw-Hill, $28). When applied to all that data coming your way, this means evaluating, organizing, simplifying and pruning.

For instance, you can group Twitter, Facebook and Linked-In contacts into categories for easier retrieval. When you're in scan mode and can't stop to read news or blog entries, collect them for later, using tools such as Instapaper and ReadItLater. No time to check social media sites? Look to a resource like NutshellMail, which culls your contacts' updates on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter and sends you a daily email report.

Pruning is part of this, too, says Rosenbaum, who grew up in Carle Place and Westbury. "Every day I unsubscribe from newsletters and unfollow people" on Twitter.

Improve search literacy: Move beyond simple one- or two-word Google searches and get up-to-date on advanced functions on search engines, social media sites and devices such as smartphones and iPads. Think of it as "life filtering," says Jonathan I. Ezor, assistant professor and director of the Institute for Business, Law and Technology at Touro Law Center. For instance, on Google click on "advanced search" and then "advanced search tips."

Learn with a group: Learn of new productivity tips and tools at sites like Lifehacker, BNET and Read WriteWeb/ biz. But also how about making it face-to-face social at continuing ed classes, workshops, industry events?

Barbara Viola says attendees have come away "energized" from social-media-oriented sessions put on by the Association of Information Technology Professionals, Long Island Chapter, of which she is president. With each event, she says, "I learn something else that helps me with utilizing or understanding social media. I now routinely invite friends and colleagues."

Manage yourself: Sometimes "the source of chaos is yourself," says Susan Zeidman, Syosset, a portfolio manager with the American Management Association. It's that compulsion to check just one more thing, say a Facebook page or Twitter stream.

Step back, reaffirm goals, ask if this activity matches your priorities and those of your boss, she says. And, yes, it's a matter of applying self-discipline. Still, you can get help from time-tracking resources like RescueTime and Toggl.

As for guilt associated with not keeping up with everything, Rosenbaum says to give yourself a break: when it comes to content, we've reached a level of "more than we should reasonably expect ourselves to consume."