There’s a weird kind of exhaustion that doesn’t come from hard labour or even long hours. It comes from inputs. Too many tabs. Too many alerts. Too many opinions. Too many things you “should” know about, keep up with, respond to, care about, and stay current on.
And the worst part? Most of it isn’t even directly relevant to your life.
That’s information overload: the mental equivalent of trying to drink from a fire hose. You’re not lazy. You’re not broken. Your brain is doing exactly what brains do when they’re flooded—it starts dropping balls, losing focus, and quietly panicking.
This article is your practical toolkit for coping with an always-on culture without moving to a cabin and throwing your phone in a lake.
What information overload actually is (and why it stresses you out)
Information overload happens when the volume of information coming in exceeds your brain’s ability to process it.
That includes:
- Emails, DMs, Slack, Teams
- Notifications and breaking news
- Work dashboards and metrics
- Social media feeds
- Podcasts, videos, “must read” threads
- Decision-making at speed (especially at work)
- The constant background pressure to be informed
Your brain can handle complexity. What it can’t handle is constant context switching.
Every time you look at a notification, scan a headline, check an email, or jump between tasks, your brain pays a switching cost. It has to re-orient, re-focus, re-remember what you were doing, and re-build momentum.
That’s stressful.
Not always in an obvious way. Often it’s subtle:
- Feeling mentally “frayed”
- Being irritable for no reason
- Forgetting what you were about to do
- Procrastinating because everything feels heavy
- Feeling guilty that you’re behind, even when you’re working
It’s not your workload. It’s your inputs per hour.
The always-on culture is designed to keep you hooked
This isn’t just a “you” problem. It’s structural.
A lot of the modern world runs on attention:
- News outlets win by keeping you clicking
- Social platforms win by keeping you scrolling
- Workplace tools win by keeping you engaged and responsive
So the default setting for modern life is:
Interrupt everything, all the time.
And unless you intentionally intervene, your brain becomes a permanent inbox.
The symptoms that you’re overloaded (not just tired)
Most people mislabel information overload as “stress” or “burnout” without noticing what’s actually happening.
If you’re overloaded, you’ll often notice:
- You can’t read long articles anymore (your attention is fragmented)
- You start things and don’t finish them (no cognitive runway)
- You “check” something and lose 20 minutes (attention hijack)
- You feel anxious without a clear reason (too many open loops)
- You crave distraction but also hate it (dopamine loop + fatigue)
- You avoid planning because it feels like pressure (decision fatigue)
This is your brain saying: please stop feeding me new things, I’m full.
Step 1: Stop confusing being informed with being safe
A massive chunk of overload comes from the belief that:
If I keep up, I’ll be in control.
But most of what you consume doesn’t give you control. It gives you more mental noise. Being constantly updated is not the same as being prepared. It’s often just being anxious with extra data.
Ask yourself:
- Does this information change what I will do today?
- Does it affect someone I’m responsible for?
- Does it improve my decisions in the next 7 days?
If the answer is no, it’s probably mental clutter.
Step 2: Build an “input budget” (yes, like money)
Treat attention like a finite resource.
If you had £100 of attention per day, would you spend it all on:
- Slack pings
- doomscrolling
- news updates
- five random YouTube videos
- someone else’s outrage
Probably not. So set an input budget.
Here are three easy versions:
Option A: Time-based
- News/social: 15 minutes per day
- Email/Slack: 2-3 scheduled windows
- Everything else: intentional
Option B: Frequency-based
- Check email 3x/day
- Check news once/day
- Social media only evenings (or weekends)
Option C: Trigger-based
- You only check inputs after you’ve completed your most important task
You don’t need discipline. You need a system.
Step 3: Turn off non-human notifications (ruthlessly)
Almost every notification is an interruption disguised as “help.”
Here’s a strong default:
- Calls and texts: allowed
- Calendar reminders: allowed
- Messages from real humans (maybe): allowed
- Everything else: off
If an app is important, it will still be there when you choose to open it.
Turn off:
- News alerts (they’re basically anxiety delivery)
- Social media notifications (pure bait)
- Email push notifications (you’re not an ER doctor)
- Random app badges (they’re dopamine triggers)
Your phone should not be allowed to shout at you.
Step 4: Reduce the number of “open loops”
Open loops are unfinished mental commitments:
- unanswered messages
- half-done tasks
- things you meant to remember
- decisions you haven’t made
Your brain hates open loops. It keeps them active in the background like a hundred tabs. So instead of trying to “hold” everything, you need a capture system.
Use any method you like:
- a notes app
- a notebook
- a to-do list
- a “dump doc” on your desktop
The goal is simple:
Get it out of your brain.
Because mental storage isn’t free.
Step 5: Practice selective ignorance (it’s a skill)
Selective ignorance is not stupidity. It’s prioritisation.
You don’t need to know:
- every political drama
- every celebrity crisis
- every tech hype cycle
- every hot take
You need to know what matters to your values, your work, your family, and your future.
Try this filter:
The 3-Relevance Rule
Before consuming something, ask:
- Is this relevant to my work?
- Is this relevant to my relationships?
- Is this relevant to my health or finances?
If it doesn’t hit at least one, skip.
This isn’t about being “productive.” It’s about protecting your brain.
Step 6: Create “quiet hours” that are non-negotiable
Most overload isn’t the total amount of information.
It’s the lack of recovery.
So create protected quiet time:
- first hour of the day (no inputs)
- last hour of the day (no inputs)
- one evening per week
- half a Sunday
In that time:
- don’t consume
- don’t scroll
- don’t “catch up”
Let your nervous system uncoil.
Quiet hours are where your brain re-organises.
Step 7: Use the “single source” trick for news and learning
A simple strategy that works:
Pick one high-quality source for news.
Pick one for professional learning.
Then ignore everything else.
Because the real problem is the constant switching between:
- Twitter headlines
- news sites
- YouTube commentary
- Reddit threads
- group chats
A single source gives you:
- fewer inputs
- less conflict
- less emotional whiplash
- more coherence
You don’t need more information. You need better curation.
Step 8: Stop scanning. Start reading (less, but properly)
Information overload trains you to skim and scan. That makes your brain restless and dissatisfied, like it never finishes a thought.
So deliberately practice deep consumption:
- read one article fully
- watch one video with full attention
- take notes on one idea you’ll apply
This restores a sense of completion.
It also makes you far less likely to binge on low-quality content.
Step 9: At work, move from constant responsiveness to structured responsiveness
If your job expects you to be always available, that’s a bigger cultural issue.
But you can still create a healthier system.
Try:
- 2–3 message-checking windows per day
- a “response SLA” you communicate (e.g. “I check messages at 11 and 4”)
- a status message that signals focus time
- turning off badges and popups during deep work blocks
If someone complains that you didn’t respond in 3 minutes:
That’s not urgency. That’s poor expectation-setting.
Step 10: Reset your nervous system with micro-recovery
When you’re overloaded, you need frequent mini-resets. Not long meditation retreats. Micro-resets.
Examples:
- 10 slow breaths before opening your inbox
- a 3-minute walk without your phone
- staring out the window for 60 seconds (seriously)
- stretching your shoulders and jaw
- getting a glass of water and doing nothing while you drink it
These tiny pauses tell your brain: you’re not under attack.
A realistic plan for the next 7 days
If you want this to be more than advice, do this:
Day 1: Turn off 80% of notifications
Day 2: Create one daily “no-input hour”
Day 3: Add a capture system for open loops
Day 4: Set email/messages to scheduled windows
Day 5: Choose a single news source
Day 6: Do one half-day “low input” experiment
Day 7: Review: What lowered stress the most?
No perfection needed. Just progress.
Final thought: you don’t need to keep up with everything
Your brain is not designed for the modern feed.
It’s designed for:
- meaningful problems
- clear priorities
- deep relationships
- periods of quiet
If you feel overloaded, it’s not because you’re weak.
It’s because you’re living in an environment that constantly tries to make your attention available for rent. You can’t control the world but you can control your inputs. And once you do, you’ll notice something almost instantly: You feel calmer—not because life got easier, but because your brain finally has room to breathe.
