When the input is too much, thinking stops.
Recently, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information.
Thanks to social media, news apps, web clipper browser extensions, and even AI, information is always at your fingertips. But before you know it, your thoughts grind to a halt.
Feelings like anxiety, jealousy, and obligation swirl around, leaving the brain exhausted and frozen. And then, your body also stops moving.
Mental health declines too
Overloading on information sometimes dampens your mood.
Thoughts like “I need to know this” or “I have to read that” create a sense of urgency.
Before long, you start comparing yourself to others, drowning in feelings of inferiority and restlessness. While gathering information is inherently good, overdoing it can affect your mental well-being. I’ve been realizing this lately.
“Read later” never happens.
Do you ever go back to the articles or materials you save with tools like web clippers, intending to “read later”?
For me, I revisit less than 10% of what I save. Honestly, “read later” feels more like “I’m curious but won’t read it. Still, I’ll save it just in case.”
Even if unread, the feeling of “I have to read this” weighs down on your mind.
Again, but yes, that’s how it is.
Saving useful information into a “read later” box gives a fleeting sense of accomplishment. But at the same time, it’s like storing negative emotions like “I need to do this” or “I have to finish that.”
Once those accumulate past a certain threshold, it becomes impossible to clear them all, leading to mental paralysis.
Setting priorities could help, but even finding the motivation for that becomes daunting.
Saving everything indiscriminately might backfire.
Focusing only on truly important information can lighten your mental load and save time spent on unnecessary storage tasks.
If I had AI built into me, maybe I could handle any amount of information intake without a problem.
Without overthinking, I could store information effortlessly and retrieve it whenever needed.
And since such tasks would be performed without emotion, there would be no mental exhaustion either.
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