If you live in our modern world, chances are high that you might have experienced 'information overload’. A pyschological condition also known as infobesity or infoxication, it happens when there’s too much (digital) information available to absorb/process. There are thousands of messages on your WhatsApp & Faceboo to reply to. You have a reminder set on some live streaming on YouTube. You’ve got to check out your Spotify to listen to the newest music. You just remember that you’ve not checked your mail & your Medium feed has been left unattended to. Not to mention the numerous articles you have saved on your Google Chrome. Are we forgetting the movies queued up for downloads on your Netflix? Or the people’s stories you’ve to see on Instagram & Snapchat before the 24-hour expiration time? Or the design inspiration you’ve to draw regularly from Behance or Abdulzeedo’s blog?
Honestly, it’s a lot. A whole lot. And it gets tiring trying to sort all of them out at the go. How’re we expected to go through all of that in 24 hours when we have other parts of our lives to attend to?! UURRRRGGH. There are times I honestly just want to pull out my eyes.
Research has shown that there are over 1.8billion sites in the world. Same study also revealed that there are so many movies in HD, it’d take 47 million years to see them all (I don’t want to bet against it, but I think my friends Melvin & Kilo have probably seen five million from the pile).
Imagine the monstrosity you could be lost in. Imagine the burnout you risk.
Having to select & process sprawling information daily puts us at too much risk. It becomes harder to focus, you lose the willpower to do anything. Even basic decision making becomes a chore everytime.
Times like this exists & it ends with nothing tangible being done. Sadly, it happens to everyone.
Seeing that it’s nearly impossible to not fall into this pit, how do we manage to reduce the occurrences? Here, I give a number of things you could do to avoid burnout (that I skimmed off somewhere I cannot remember) & who knows they might just work for you.
Firstly, start by doing the most important tasks in the morning. This is essential, because at dawn you have the most power at your disposal. Mentally, physically & otherwise. So, reply them mails, read up the news articles & soak all rhe inspiration you’d need from available blogs.
Learn to do similar tasks at the same time. You’ve got messges you’ve got to respond to across various platforms? Just set out a time for it & do everything once. Drop the idea of having to reply one, go back to something else & return. Saves you a lot of stress & worry.
Recognize & agree that you’d sleep shorter. Let’s face the fact, inasmuch as we’d want to berate the times for having too much available, we cannot deny that much more important information exists than ever. You could stumble on a Financial Times article around 3AM that’d give you insight on how to run your buisness, or a tweet could come across that’d provide links on scholarships available to apply for. Nature by design is as random as it’s ordered, so don’t overlook it.
Fourthly, take walks regularly. Honestly, this is one thing that works for me. When it feels like your brain has been fogged beyond normal, do this. Put on your shoes & take a stroll. Take in the scenery, listen to water splash on the rocks, watch dogs play or allow kids wow you. This experience is totally refreshing & nothing should stand in the way of it happening at least once a week.
Lastly, detoxify digitally. This is probably the most necessary & hardest to do. Drop your phones, your iPods, your laptops, your tabs or whatever you’ve. For a number of days. Okay, that’s much, but drop it for some hours. Trust me, you won’t die. Believe also, the world won’t end (errr, judging by the year 2020, I really cannot say if this phrase can hold for much longer but you get my drift?)
What are the ways which you avoid sensory overload? Let me it on what works for you! I’d appreciate feedback. If you can send a mail to osekioghogho99@gmail.com, that’d be awesome.
Bless!