>Save me from advice spam!

Heard of spam – those unsolicited emails that occupy unnecessary space in your inbox? Heard of phone spam – those unsolicited calls from credit card companies and banks and what have you that will interrupt you in the middle of everything to sell exactly what you don’t need. Heard of advice spam – those unsolicited words of wisdom hurled at you from everyone, everywhere, for everything under the sky?

All kinds of spam are annoying. So you can block unsolicited emails by using the Block Sender tool or some special software designed solely for that purpose. And you can save your precious time from being wasted on unwanted calls by putting your name on the DND list of your mobile services’ operator. Unfortunately, nobody’s thought of an error-proof mechanism to save you from unsolicited advice!

Of course, like the unsolicited mails and calls, those giving out unsolicited advice are doing so for our benefit, except that we can’t see it. Not now, not ever! And yet, advice spam remains a largely neglected area of research. So everybody, right from your parents to friends, to fellow-commuters and colleagues are ready with their great, totally unwanted piece of advice on everything from how you should plan your career, when you should get married and have children, which car you should buy, which airlines you should fly, which face cream is best suited for your skin type, which counselor for your gripe, even what you should blog about and what not! And no, you can’t press ‘Block Sender’ to shut them up! Unless of course, you are one of those who have the innate ability for selective hearing – who can switch off and switch on mentally of your own volition. No such luck for me. I’m waiting to be saved from spam!