Overloaded, Overwhelmed, and I Don’t Like It One Bit

Yes, how to cope with information overload?

I can remember complaining about the dire state of the news cycle all of 10 years ago now, and I have to state it hasn’t gotten any more appealing in the decade since. ‘Cope’ is an interesting word here, as it suggests ‘a lived-with condition’, a sickness, an illness of sorts is being tolerated. It gets me thinking perhaps that’s the best way to consider information overload, an illness in need of treatment that isn’t going anywhere. Now I’m no doctor, but I can talk about what I’ve done and without a copay.

Slow the roll

I’m of the opinion that the news is in need of slowing way down. I’ve found this opinion shared by voices including Ian Hislop and Trevor Noah, who have had to read news daily as part of their jobs. Both are of the opinion that you don’t need to read/consume news every day. Trevor Noah going as far as saying once a week is a lot more reflected and accurate summation of real-time world events. So, while the 24/7 of social media isn’t going anywhere, our consumption of news certainly can be lessened. In my experience, a weekly check-in on news hasn’t cost me anything and left me with a much clearer head.

While the onslaught of information we face isn’t going to change anytime soon, I’d argue our relationship with it can be altered on an individual basis. I’ve witnessed my habits around news and information consumption have required me to be mindful. My worst habit was perfectly innocuous, just a news site… yet I’d find myself, on autopilot, typing in the site on my phone, scanning, scrolling, zoning out. Nothing to do with the content in front of me — all to do with dissociation and escapism. I found myself blocking an innocent news site just to break an empty escapism habit. Vacant doom-scrolling sites are worth getting away from. That’s my take.

Curate your recursive algorithm

I’m something of a YouTube head currently. I don’t think it’s a great app. I have no particular love or affinity for it, but as someone not seeking much TV right now, I find it a great source to listen to music and podcasts in the background. YT is my go-to for that easy convenience. However, like the rest of us, I’ve found that just a single search on a given curiosity tends to fill the entire feed within a matter of minutes. It’s immediately overstimulating content pushed in my face that may have nothing to do with what I actually want.

My contention is: any form of social media or platform requires a consistent degree of pruning. Sad or not, mindful cultivation is a must. Just to avoid a feed full of asinine garbage there to grab my attention, irrespective of any value. I’ve found myself every so many weeks, or sometimes days, purposely doing this. Due to how tailored our individual algorithms are, I think the grim reality of their purpose is easily forgotten.

Their desire is to grab our attention, to keep us clicking, to trigger the advertisements and feed revenue streams. We are simply the users, using and to a degree being used all in the name of data. I’ve found the more carefully I use any social media platform, the less overwhelmed, drowned, or flattened I feel. Spending just a few minutes clicking -Not interested- or -See less of this- has significantly lessened the mindless, unwanted engagement here.

Is the medium the mess?

Last but not least, the format — online, the internet — is this not a considerable vein of the problem? Considering my own relationship with information overload, it’s struck me this is not only a contemporary problem, it’s an entirely digital one. If I look around my flat right now and look at the stacks of books… there was never a complaint of too much information in an entirely analogue world. There was never a declaration that one could read too many books. In fact, you can’t.

My hunch is… this could be key to combatting information overload; be judicious and pick your sources. If scrolling and screens are driving you loopy, swap them out for books and pages. I’m not stating this is the path for everyone, but hasn’t reading  been valued and performed for centuries? 

Try to find your information overload that way, and I bet you never will, and might just get smarter along the way.