"Wisdom is rightfully attributed not to people who know what to look for in life but to people who know what to overlook."

　　Never before in history have people been so beset with the overflow of ideas and images that the modern human must endure. We are constantly bombarded with news, advertising, and entertainment, so much so that we are often at a loss as to where we should focus our attention. This has lead to what many media critics have called "information anxiety," a term used to discribe the paralysis the ordinary human experiences when attempting to organize and synthesize the vast amounts of data that move past her everyday. Now, more than ever before, it can be seen that wisdom truly is attributable to those "who know what to overlook."

　　The Internet is a good example of the effects of information overload on people. Many people recieve hundreds of email messages a day, yet there is no possible way for them to respond, let alone read, all of these messages. Through practice they learn to pick out what will be of interest and to ignore the rest. A similar phenomena occurs when a person is "browising the web." Information, both trivial and profound, float by in a disorganized way. A person learns to ignore what is not relevant to their search. This is easily demonstrated by watching a person new to the Internet next to someone who is a veteran of the net. The new person will stumble on loads of irrelevant information while the veteran will most likely proceed to the information she seeks. This ability to overlook useless information is not only applicable to the net; consider the older but more established form of information known as the book.

　　Ever since Guttenberg rolled out his first few pages from his press humans have been wondering how to synthesize all this knowledge. Each year more and more books are written and published, more and more information is available to the public through bookstores and libraries, and each year the average person must struggle harder to find what she needs to know.. This is one of the primary reasons people are sent to college: they are taught how to access and research information they need.

　　It is only through experience that one understands how to overlook useless data. This is most likely what the author of the above quote meant.

　　Comments:

　　This response presents a well-developed analysis of the issue.

　　Beginning with a strong description of the current state of information overload, the first paragraph provides a context for the issue and takes a clear position agreeing with the stated claim. The Internet example is well chosen and well developed, clearly supporting the point that wisdom involves learning to ignore what is not relevant. The reference to books reinforces this position but does little to advance the argument or add insightful analysis. The conclusion restates an earlier point, adding little to the analysis.

　　Despite a few instances of imprecise reference (e.g., "this has" and "all this knowledge"), the argument is presented clearly and coherently, meriting a score of 5. To earn a higher score, the response would need to develop a more thoughtful analysis of the issue.