The role of information avoidance in everyday-life information behaviors

• Published in: Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology Vol. 48; no. 1; pp. 1 - 9
• Main Authors: Narayan, Bhuva, Case, Donald O., Edwards, Sylvia L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 2011
• ISSN: 0044-7870; 1550-8390
• DOI: 10.1002/meet.2011.14504801085

This paper presents the results from a study of information behaviors in the context of people's everyday lives as part of a larger study of information behaviors (IB). 34 participants from across 6 countries maintained a daily information journal or diary – mainly through a secure web log – for two weeks, to an aggregate of 468 participant days over five months. The text‐rich diary data was analyzed using Grounded Theory analysis. The findings indicate that information avoidance is a common phenomenon in everyday life and consisted of both passive avoidance and active avoidance. This has implications for several aspects of peoples' lives including health, finance, and personal relationships.