Just a quick scroll through the news cycle or a social media app exposes me to an overload of ideas. Many of these ideas are interesting and important. They act as a distraction from what I’m in the middle of doing, or not doing. But having too much information leaves me vulnerable to poor decision making, and strips me of creativity and calm. It feels counterintuitive, but too much information actually makes it difficult to make decisions, retain ideas and think.*
Information Overload
It’s called information overload.* My brain wasn’t made for this bombardment. The amount of information created every day is mind-boggling. Back in 2019 Forbes reported that, “Over the last two years alone 90 percent of the data in the world was generated.“** No one’s brain can keep up with that!
Stop The Self-Blame
No wonder I read something interesting that I think I should save and share with others, only to completely forget what it was a few minutes later. I create digital folders of ideas that are important. However, I will probably never refer to them again, because I won’t remember that they exist! I blame myself for not being able to retain all this important information, but it’s an impossible task, like trying to hold water in your hands.
Information Is Here To Stay
Ironically, by liking, sharing and commenting, I’m only adding to the information noise for others. Yes, even writing about information overload creates more information. We can’t escape it!
Protection Against Overload
There is something we can all do about this: the digital detox. That’s limiting or removing yourself from digital information for a period of time.
Regularly disconnecting from the digital world allows us to step back and live in the present, fostering mental clarity and reducing stress levels. A digital detox acts as a mental palate cleanser, giving us the opportunity to reconnect with our environment and the people around us. Ultimately, it helps us refresh our minds.*
Continuing on without paying attention to the effect that ever increasing amounts of information have on my brain, is unhealthy. It’s like creating brain pollution.***
Digital Health
To cut down on this pollution, I’m going to dramatically limit what I choose to share and save online. I’m also building a digital routine. Just like brushing my teeth, unplugging myself from information regularly is something that I’m adding to my self-care regime. Maybe, it will be a detox Sunday, or an obnoxiously loud alarm that signals me to close social media at a set time?
I’m looking forward to the benefits of less information: increased calm, decisiveness and energy. Hopefully, I’ll start remembering what I just read.
How has information overload impacted you? What lifestyle adjustments have you made to accommodate for it? Comment below.
***https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.7148062
More about information overload: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10322198/
Retired, And Now What? 
Like you, I’ve saved things I’ve seen on the internet only to never revisit them. It truly is mental overload! Last year I decided to protest the attempts to ban TikTok by abstaining from FB & IG for the month of March. It was pretty difficult at first but I removed the apps from my home pages and turned off notifications. This made them a little more difficult to click and by the end of the first week I felt so much better!! I wasn’t following rabbit hole after rabbit hole or getting bombarded with Ads every 5 seconds…my mind was able to relax!! Since then I haven’t really picked back up my usage like before. I check about once or twice a day (sometimes I forget to check at all!!!) I highly recommend giving it a try…if a month sounds too long, try a week at first. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your experience is inspiring. I definitely think that I would need to make the apps more difficult to access to cut down on the temptation to open them. I’m also going to try 5 mindful breaths before clicking, to check-in with why I’m opening them. I’m very, very familiar with the rabbit holes. Hopping through them is time-consuming and exhausting…but also addictively fun.
LikeLiked by 1 person