A Fundamental Solution For Information Overload In The Digital Age
By: Ankita Sontakke
Tags: Life Lessons, Productivity, Digital, Information Technology, Systems Thinking

We We exist in a Digital Information Age where every needed information sits between the palm of our hand. Many of us subconsciously go to the internet to find the solution rather than actually thinking.

The Internet has become a huge interconnectedness between information technology and humans. It has played a massive role in globalization. Industrial Revolution 4.0 is happening and amidst pandemic, we are left with four walls and an internet connection.

Information available on the internet is rising. We have a too much of information to handle at present.

There will never be a completely satisfactory solution to the problem created by an overabundance of information — David Kirsh

The problem: Although we have so much information to process, we don’t have a way to organize or systematize the processed information.

Because of this, Information Overload has become a rising concern.

What is Information Overload?

Information Overload is a simple term for too much information stored in our brain. When it gets overburdened by a lot of information, it becomes challenging to absorb a new piece of information.

Information Overload has various setbacks on our brain. It reduces our productivity, blocks our logical thinking and creativity. Sometimes, we also tend to be forgetful about things, situations, and places.

We always convince ourselves saying I will remember when I need it.

In reality, we never know when that is information needed. It can also be in the middle of deep work. We want to remember the information once we promised ourselves that we would remember.

According to a renowned national medical honor society AlphaOmegaAlpha’s Executive Director Richard L. Byyny:

“Our neurons don’t increase in numbers, nor do they respond more quickly to this overdose of information. Our memory does not increase in capacity. We do not learn or think faster, and this mismatch creates, contributes to, and causes information, participation, and collaboration overload”

We tend to go back in our memory repository and try to remember that piece of information to complete the puzzle. Until we realize that we have not only wasted our time thinking but also we haven’t gotten any relevant information regarding the topic.

Disappointed, we think to ourselves that I should have noted it down in the first place!

How having an External Information Storage can be a game-changer?

At that moment, we feel not to take extra efforts to write it down or to digitize it, but in the long run, the extra effort taken is always worth it.

The Solution: Use Brain Extenders. That is, Externalizing Information Storage.

If we are able to accept the fact that we cannot remember every other detail or memory stored in our brain, we would then find ways to externalize the information.

The most fundamental principle of the organized mind, the one most critical to keeping us from forgetting or losing things, is to shift the burden of organizing from our brains to the external world. ― Daniel J. Levitin

According to the author of ‘The Organized Mind’ — Daniel Levitin, Brain Extenders can also be in the form of calendars, smartphones, and address book.

Any information that we can store, write or type in a trusted system outside our brain so we don’t have to keep the information in our brain all the time can be called Brain Extenders.

Our brain cannot be trusted with the information storing part. No matter how hard we try, there is a loss in information if we try to remember certain important statistical data, or what our diet was like 5 years ago.

Our brain remembers certain things after a while but there are always bit and pieces lost as time goes by.

Storing information in a trustable system ensures that the information you want to retain is just a few relevant keywords away.

Benefits of Externalizing Information

Write to Forget: An interesting thought or idea crossed your mind? Write it or type it immediately. The space in our brain will instantly free up for other important activities. Quantifiable Information: If we consistently maintain a journal of our sleep cycle or diet, we can easily track patterns and behavioral changes in our life. Later, we can structure it for the betterment of our future. The stored information is permanent. So you can come back to what the information even 100 years from now. We are able to picture our plan of action clearly and track our past clearly and concisely. Write for cognitive enlightenment: If we consistently manage to track the required data, it builds up over time.

Conclusion

Rather than being overwhelmed by torrent of information, let us get stimulated by it!

We have an option to be stimulated by externalizing information and be carefree or get overwhelmed by it.

We can always start by collecting interesting pieces of information as we have an interesting conversation with people, read an article or travel and store it in our Digital System with keywords and tags. (You can get a pen and paper too!)

So now if we find an interesting article, note, quote or to-do, we know where it would go!

PS: Answer is definitely ‘not in our brain.’