From time to time I read Seth Godin's blog.  He's considered to be a venerable expert in the field of marketing. He also happens to be a prolific blogger, a propensity for which I am lacking.  I respect his ability to write concise, clever, and adaptable ideas.  By "adaptable", I mean his thoughts, while clearly intended for a marketing and business savvy audience, can often be useful for everyday living.  His blog from a few weeks ago was titled "signal to noise".  In it he takes a dynamic common in radio transmission and relates it to the distribution of information on the internet and concludes that the web is in danger of being disproportionately noisy.  

Wikipedia defines signal to noise ratio as such: Signal-to-noise ratio (often abbreviated SNR or S/N) is an electrical engineering concept, also used in other fields (such as scientific measurements, biological cell signaling), defined as the ratio of a signal power to the noise power corrupting the signal. In less technical terms, signal-to-noise ratio compares the level of a desired signal (such as music) to the level of background noise. The higher the ratio, the less obtrusive the background noise is.

It got me thinking.  What a cool picture that is for dynamics we find in so many areas of our lives.  It can be extremely useful to keep in the front of your mind as a filter while watching the news, for instance.  I don't care what type of reporting you're bent towards - listen with this "signal to noise ratio" in mind for a few minutes and tell me there isn't a disturbingly impressive amount of noise with only the occasional, vague semblance of signal.  

Then you get the commercials.  These guys specialize in noise.  They hypnotize us with it.  How many times have you seen a commercial, been rightly entertained by it, and then have no idea what product or service has been pitched?  Or worse, you have a good idea of what the product is, but the way it's dressed up is so sensationalized that it shows such a demonstrable lack of concern for the truth.

Unfortunately, it's the unsuspecting public that take commercials more seriously than they should who get the short end of the stick when it comes to their well-being.  They see these good looking, successful, slim models mowing down some kind of triple beef patty with onion rings burger, fries, and a large (64 oz) coke while having, seemingly, the most amazing time doing it.  Well shoot, that looks good. I can go for some of that right now.  Until you go there, order the loot, bring it home and there's no good looking people around your apartment, no hip music being spun by a dj ('cause who doesn't have one of those in their house?), and the meal looks like a truck drove over it.  But it's cool because at least you've got that prescription medication that is supposed to help your heartburn.  Never mind that "some side effects may include..." loss of sight, anal leakage, or sudden death.  Of course, those good looking models in the commercial for this drug were too busy repelling down a mountain or kayaking through the rapids or pushing their daughter on a swing - all with ridiculous smiles on their faces - while the announcer was disclaiming these "side effects", and you just weren't paying attention.  NOISE experts.  

"Signal to Noise Ratio, Part Deux" will explore implications on relationships.  Stay tuned...