My eye caught half a line of a book review recently. Apropos of something, the reviewer wrote: "We live in an age of too much information."

I thought about that, and I believe there is a level on which I agree. We are saturated with words, bits of very personal data we put out on the electronic waves, private conversations that are shared with everyone lucky enough to be on the same bus or street corner. I have several times thought that if I only knew more about the stock market and had more money, I have just heard some great inside info.

If we add to that the vast array of opinions on everything from medical issues to what kind of skis someone should have used on Mount Whistler, we are all on the road to overload. We reach it when we stir in all those tidbits about celebrities, half of which are sheer invention. We can absorb no more.

Look up any disease on the Internet, and you will learn more than you ever wanted to know. Do the same for two-cent opinions on books, the theater, movies, etc. Everyone is expertly placed to share all he or she knows. Do we need this?

In the meantime, are we cultivating genuine friendships in real time, in actual conversations, in sharing joys and sorrows with those we do want in our lives, as opposed to the "cyber-friends" who could be faking it?

Dare I ask how is your soul? Does knowing more mean carrying more about what vitally concerns each of us? I am not convinced it is so yet in our delight in this new info glut. So of us suffer from what I call "one peanut syndrome." You know how it goes. Just eat one of those salty bits. You can't stop there. And I am beginning to be afraid that as we are overwhelmed with more and more information, we actually know less and less about the things that really matter.

Here's a Lenten practice you might dare try for just one week. Turn off the info spigot. Hold on to your joy and your peeves for 7 days before offering them to either Facebook friends of fellow texters. Ignore the info merry-go-round. Then, fill up the time with some genuine reflection about the most important things in your life, mulled over and savored. Imagine a power failure that wipes out electronica. What inner resources do you have to survive—and survive happily?

It could be an interesting experiment.