One warning is perhaps in order—-this territory we are entering can become a fantastic time-sink. Hours can slip by, people can come and go, and you’ll be locked into Cyberspace. Remember to do your work!

That really hits home, doesn’t it? More than fifteen years later we’re fully immersed in the information age and those prophetic words have never been truer. We are overloaded with information, so much so that it becomes distracting, harms our ability to select and digest knowledge that matters the most, and ends up killing our focus and productivity.

Humans are not multitasking machines, because there really wasn’t a strong evolutionary reason for us to be. We perform better when focusing on a single task, it’s hard-wired in our individual brains, and the context switching required to jump from one task to another is far too “expensive” for our minds to continually deal with.

The solution is to put yourself on an information diet. These are a few strategies that can really help to limit your daily information intake, simplify your life and get things done.

1. Limit recreational Internet surfing

Sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, Facebook and Twitter can be fun, interesting, informative and even teach you many useful things, but they are time-sinks. If you aren’t careful, several hours of your personal time can end up being wasted, when perhaps you’d like to put them to better use. Decide what the amount of time is that you’d like to spend on such sites, and stick to it. One hour of your personal time is usually a generous compromise. Remember that you can use RescueTime or similar tools to keep track of how much time you spend browsing and using certain applications.

2. Syndication is your friend

There are information sources that truly matter to you and rightfully, that’s fair, we each have our favorite areas of interest. Rather than checking them regularly and getting lost in the Internet in the process, use a good RSS feed reader. It will make your life much easier, allow you to follow the type of content that you really need or want to read more closely, and prevent you from jumping from site to site in boredom. Read your feeds once or twice a day, and then get on with your life.

If you are using a Mac OS X I suggest the excellent NetNewsWire, while Windows users should take a look at FeedDemon. If you prefer to use your browser, as opposed to a standalone desktop application, Google Reader is definitely worth a try.

If you already use a feed reader, don’t forget to put it on a diet as well. Do you really have time to read hundreds of regularly updated feeds?

3. Don’t obsess over your email

Check your email inbox two (or three times maximum) during the day. Some people tend to frenetically hit “refresh” while waiting for new emails to show up or they check every email notification that appears in programs like Outlook, Lotus Notes or Thunderbird. Unless you work in customer service relations, disable pop up notifications, blip sounds, and only check your email every few hours. You can read Inbox Zen with the three folder email system to learn more about a good system I use to stay on top of emails without stressing over them.

4. Limit IM chats

Instant Messaging is a very immediate form of communication and it’s rapidly taking over the use of emails, even in the workplace. My suggestion is to limit its usage though, because you can easily end up wasting both yours and other people’s time. The easiest way to accomplish this is to put yourself in “Do not disturb” mode. If it’s truly an emergency, you’ll get contacted regardless of your status. But you’ll also avoid all those “So what’s up, Tony?” type of chats. Note that I’m not advocating getting rid of social interaction. On the contrary, I’m suggesting more social interaction when appropriate (in the form of taking to someone in person). Most people will agree though that being interrupted by IM messages when you are in the middle of working on something brain-intensive is a surefire way to lose focus.

5. Skip unnecessary meetings

There are meetings you don’t really need to participate in. So why are you still going? If your presence at a given meeting doesn’t benefit either yourself or your company, I’d argue that your time is much better spent on actual work. Of course, I’m not advocating that you stop attending meetings all of a sudden, that’s a good way to get fired. Rather I’m suggesting that you discuss with your manager about whether or not your participation in a meeting is required and of any actual advantage to the company. Meetings can be very useful, but let’s be frank, many of them aren’t.

6. Keep it short on the phone

Don’t chit-chat on the phone. Get to the point quickly and politely and always encourage the person on the other side to skip ahead to the real reason behind their call. If a follow up is required, try to see if this can be arranged by email instead.

7. Cut the number of hours in front of the TV

Try to limit the amount of time that you spend watching TV. If you read the news online, you don’t really need to view it again in the living room. I don’t dislike TV, there are a few interesting programs that I feel are really worth watching, but if you’re not careful, TV can become a big source of information overload and equate to time spent in a less than productive manner.

Some people watch 4 hours of TV a day. Is that too much? Too little? I like to think in terms of percentage of one’s over-all life. On average, we have 16 waking hours a day. If you consistently spend 4 hours watching TV every day, then TV ends up “wasting” a quarter of your adult life. Is it a waste? It depends, on your deathbed would you regret having spent a quarter of your life watching TV? I know I would.

Enjoy your free time

These 7 tips for reducing the information overload outlined above are a mix of things that can be applied to your personal and professional life. They’re not intend to be a guide for making you a productive, unstoppable machine. Productivity and focus at work are the main effects of these techniques, but there is more to them than that.

What would you do if you had 16 extra hours a week that could be obtained by eliminating unnecessary, time-sink types of activities? You could hang out more with the people you care about, take up a hobby, get a dog, go out more or work towards your goals. Regardless of how you choose to spend your newly obtained time, your life will likely be much better off because of it.

Email, meetings, the commute home, surf the web, perhaps a nightcap and, before you know it, another busy day has come to an end. In our ever-increasing dependency on all things computer related, it is all too easy to forget that there’s still a veritable plethora of interesting activities to participate in, beyond the keyboard.

As with nearly everything in this world, the key to having time for both hobbies and the demands of daily life is balance, and the realization that the internet will still exist if you go fly fishing for an afternoon or spend a weekend learning how to weave a rug. When reflecting on what activities you might like to spend time doing, think back to your childhood and the types of hobbies that you enjoyed as a youth. Who knows, perhaps you’d delight in building model cars or going horseback riding again.

With that thought in mind, here is a round-up of seven fascinating and slightly out of the ordinary pastimes for you to explore. If nothing on this list tickles your fancy, don’t worry, the guiding idea here is to try something new, even just once, and broaden your horizons – because let’s face it, no matter how much you love Reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook or Twitter, life is too short to devote every spare waking moment to internet browsing.

1. Paragliding

Go paragliding. It’s pretty safe to assume that for just about as long as humans have walked the earth, they’ve wondered what it would be like to take to the sky and soar, free as a bird. While evolution has yet to see fit for people to develop wings (darn!), perhaps the next best option is to try paragliding. If the thought of going completely ‘free style’ seems too daring for your tastes, fear not, you can still give this exhilarating activity a whirl, tethered to a motorboat, in which case it’s known as parasailing.

2. Fossil hunting

Make like a paleontologist and try you hand at fossil collecting. Fossils abound the world over, though there are some definite hotbeds of activity where you’re more likely to unearth a truly ancient treasure or two. Check out fossiel.net for a list of over 270 terrific fossil finding spots worldwide.

3. Make your own Olive Oil

Tap into your inner Greek (or Roman!) and experiment with making your own olive oil. Regarded as one of the healthiest edible oils in the world thanks to its rich level of monounsaturated fats, olive oil is a culinary staple with an endless array of uses. Try making your own at home in your kitchen with nothing more than some olives, water and some drinking glasses, or if you’re really into the idea (and you’ve got a reliable source of olives), consider investing in an olive oil press.

4. Learn to pole dance

Once regarded largely as the domain of strippers, in recent years pole dancing (a combo of gymnastics and dance moves) as sprung up across fitness centers nationwide, proving that this workout has more than just visual appeal. Assuming you have the floor space (and possibly a sturdy pole), you don’t even need to leave the house to get your grove on, as instructional videos can teach you all the moves you’ll ever need right in the comfort of your own living room.

5. Pan for gold

Often credited with bringing the American and Canadian populations west, gold rushes were an integral part of the nineteenth (and in some places, early 20th) century. Thankfully, one no longer has to navigate treacherous terrain or put their life on the line if they would like to try their hand at panning for gold. Places such as Barkerville, British Columbia and Tuolumne County, California still yield up gold flakes and nuggets alike each year.

6. Create paper at home

We all know finding more ways to go green is a must, so why not give an eco-friendly craft such as homemade paper making a try. Inexpensive and relatively simple to do, this creative pastime is a great one to involve kids in, too.

7. Re-mix your wardrobe

Gas, food and housing aren’t the only things that continue to get more expensive on what feels like a daily basis, clothing prices are also jetting upwards, which is all the more reason to reinvent your current wardrobe instead of shelling out for a brand new one. With a little ingenuity and a sewing machine (or if you’re an excellent hand sewer, a needle and thread) you’ve got the ground work in place to revamp and re-mix your duds in new and marvelous ways. For some hip inspiration flip through books like Rip It!: How to Deconstruct and Reconstruct the Clothes of Your Dreams by Elissa Meyrich, and Megan Nicolay’s Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt.

This list contains seven fun-filled activities, but there are certainly tons more hobbies out there, just waiting to be explored. When you’re not putting in your daily 9-5, writing blog posts or watching YouTube, what are some of your favorite ways to stay busy, learn new skills and have a blast?