Think twice before you copy someone on an email or hit "reply all." Such practices have made today's workers less productive, a research firm concludes. After years of naming a product or person of the year, Basex Inc. decided to forecast <A HREF="http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/T/TECHBIT_INFORMATION_OVERLOAD?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-12-26-10-12-23">"informationoverload" as problem of the year for 2008</A>.

"It's too much information. It's too many interruptions. It's too much lost time," Basex chief analyst Jonathan Spira declared. "It's always too much of a good thing." Information overload isn't exactly new, but Spira said the problem has grown as technology increases societal expectations for instantaneous response. And more information available, he said, also means more time wasted looking for the right information, whether in an old email or through a search engine.