How information overload affects humans.

Introduction

There is a lot of talk and writing about information overload nowadays, and it is a hype topic with great enthusiasm. After all, it has become a real pandemic of our time. Many people are thinking about it, and some of those who are thinking about it are trying to solve it. Of those who try to solve something, the majority fail, and only a few succeed in the issue of information hygiene and well-being in the information space.

An exhausted, nervous, and mentally weak person (which is exactly what we become when we are chronically overloaded with information) cannot be inspired and create the state of the future. Of course, they are not able to create their own lives either.

We will not analyse here the sources of information overload, because I think everything is clear.

So what does this lead to?

Here is a very moderate list of manifestations.

Physiological manifestations:

1. Chronic stress.
2. Dopamine burnout (pit)
3. Neurosis
4. Anxiety
5. Panic attacks
6. Feeling of fatigue
7. Insomnia
8. Depression

There’s more, but I think you get the idea.

Mental and social manifestations:

1. Clip thinking
2. Loss of genuine social relationships.
3. Procrastination
4. Wasting time on something insignificant.
5. Dependence on gadgets
6. Inability to complete a task
7. Weak will and discipline
8. Confusion of the mind.
9. A constant feeling of fear.

Here, too, this is not all, but it is enough.

Only one conclusion can be drawn from this. This is an extremely important problem that must be solved at the level of the republic, because why create a republic for people who, to tell the truth, are addicted? They simply do not need it. If there is a republic, it’s fine; if there is no republic, it’s also fine as long as they have a gadget in their hands and there is no direct threat to their health and life.

That is, people with information overload are very passive in real life.

A way out of the situation.

The question is, what can be done right here and now by everyone who thinks about the health of the nation and their own personal health?

Personally, I want to change nothing in my life, but at the same time get at least a small effect of reducing the information load. And then, of course, when you have a little strength and opportunity, you can leave your comfort zone. That is why we will propose this model of reducing the load: first passive methods, then reflexive methods, then conscious methods.

Passive methods:

• turn on the “Sleep Mode” on your smartphone. This is a great way to see that you’ve had enough of being on your phone. The screen turns black and white, but no one will be able to reach you because the “do not disturb” mode is switched on at the same time – and if you set up selected contacts, only they will be able to contact you.
• hide the icons of social networks and messengers on the second screen of the phone or in a folder. Due to natural laziness, you will be too lazy to go there. It’s not much, but it will help.
• set the “do not disturb” mode for certain hours on days when you need maximum concentration. Of course, register critical contacts from whom you need to hear calls in the settings of this mode.
• Turn off sound and vibration notifications, as well as those that pop up in the tray or light up the screen. This is the most effective passive method. So how do you decide which notifications to disable and which not to disable? It’s simple: if turning off notifications will result in sanctions (a reprimand from your boss), damaged relationships (wife, mother), or you lose something (money, status, connections), then you should not turn off such notifications.
• Unsubscribe from unnecessary groups, channels, games, contacts. The criterion of unnecessary can be decided by yourself, but there is an opinion that if you have not used a group or channel for a month, you do not need it. This is not the case with contacts.
• Remove apps and games you don’t really need from your gadget.

Reflexive methods:

• These are methods based on the formation of positive habits. That is, when you repeat them, you get used to them and then, without hesitation, you effectively extinguish the overload.
• Identify a room at work or at home where you are without gadgets, i.e. the gadget is simply never brought into such a room (for example: toilet, bathroom, kitchen)
• create a permanent place for the gadget and do not carry it around the house (for example, on the bedside table). Just like in ancient times, when phones were tied to a cord.
• Get used to not using the phone an hour before going to bed and an hour after waking up. It is difficult, but very effective. Exceptions may be: alarm clocks, watches.
• Check notifications at certain times of the day. For example: every three hours or every 4 hours. Set aside 15 minutes to check and respond.
• Switching off gadgets for a certain time of the day or simply not interacting with gadgets for a certain time. For example: one hour at lunchtime.

Conscious methods:

These are methods that you are not used to doing, you need to think and remember. These are the most effective methods in terms of their impact on relieving the psyche and physiology because a person wants to do them and thinks about their future, in other words, they are conscious.

• Information hygiene: consciously choose sources of incoming information. Remove those sources that do not lead you to development and positive emotions.
• Choose one or a maximum of two sources for the news you read. Make sure that these sources are unbiased and carry a minimal emotional load. Impartiality is very difficult to calculate, but you can find information that is presented with minimal bias.
• Use gadgets for the most practical purposes: for study, for work.
• Learn how to relieve tension and stress not through gadgets, but in other ways, such as going out or going to nature, physical activity, yoga, meditation, reading books, drawing, writing a diary, real communication with friends, offline hobby clubs, and so on.

Quality of information consumption.

Let’s take a smartphone or tablet as an example, and consider the quality of information to be a conditional reduction in the load on the eyes, brain and psyche. This is also important for those who already use conscious methods of information hygiene.

The order of the load goes from worst to acceptable.

1. The worst for our psyche are short videos such as shorts, reels, tick-tocks, especially if they are news or videos that evoke negative emotions, such as scandal, embarrassment, or a fight or war.

Another thing that can be appropriate in short videos is a time-lapse of nature.

It is advisable to try to remove short videos from your life altogether – the exception is training videos dedicated to a specific task or skill.

2. Videos on platforms lasting from 3 to 20 minutes are less harmful to the psyche.
Again:

– the worst option is news and videos that evoke emotions;
– the average option is entertainment videos;
– acceptable options are educational videos or videos about nature.

3. It is highly desirable if the videos are longer than 20-30 minutes. But you still need to be prepared for them, because we are used to shorter videos.
And the focus of the video is the same, the worst is news, the best is education and nature.

4. The average load is created bytext reading of correspondence feeds in chats or subscriptions, it is more desirable than watching videos on platforms.

5. A lighter level of reading interesting texts in chats and on websites. Not correspondence.

6. Here we return to video again. This is the level of watching TV series (without a long choice of what to watch).

7. Next is the film viewing level (without a long choice of what to watch).

8. The most acceptable level when using the eyes is the level of reading books on the phone.

9. The least strenuous is the level of listening to audio on the phone (book, music, study).

!!!And now two more important notes.

The first is about video – it doesn’t matter what level of information consumption it has, if it has frames up to 3-4 seconds long. It will exhaust you very much, even if it contains very important and interesting information. It is better to switch off the screen and listen to the information.

Secondly, speeding up the video also means putting your brain and psyche under a lot of stress.

Conclusion.

Information hygiene is an extremely important process in our time. Without it, it is impossible to talk about the happiness and bright future of a nation or people.