The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible said "Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body." (Ecclesiastes 12:12).

 

Roman philosopher Seneca (c. 60 CE) famously said: "What is the use of having countless books and libraries, whose titles their owners can scarcely read through in a whole lifetime? The learner is not instructed, but burdened by the mass of them."

 

A 1962 study titled "Information Input Overload" by James G. Miller, Director of the Mental Health Research Institute at the University of Michigan, comes to this conclusion: "Since people can’t blow a fuse … they must adjust."

 

But how do we adjust? That's what this article will show. I've been reading about this a lot for the past few years, trying to balance my desire to learn and stay informed with my desire to be sane. I came across a great article by Michael Simmons, whose title I have used as the title article for this newsletter.
 

 

 

You might be wondering why information overload matters so much. Maybe you feel that, at least for you, it's not such a big problem. Sure, there's too much information ... but you've learned to filter it. You just are more selective about what you read. Simple, right?

 

In fact, recent research shows that, by and large, people today don't feel overwhelmed by too much information ... they like it. A recent Pew Research study showed that the percentage of people who feel overwhelmed by information is lower today than it was two decades ago.

 

But there's another problem. It turns out that there's a different -- and maybe more problematic -- issue emerging in our information-laden world:

 

 

 

A 2007 essay by novelist David Foster Wallace coined the term Total Noise as “a tsunami of available fact, context and perspective” which provides a sensation of a “loss of autonomy, of personal responsibility for being informed.” He concludes the essay with the following call to action for all of us:

 

 

What Wallace foresaw was counter-intuitive: one might expect that the more information available, the smarter we'd be, and the more nuanced our views would be, because we'd be aware of the various layers of information.

 

Turns out, it doesn't work that way. Today's overwhelming onslaught of information forces people to filter what comes in. Of course, much has also been written about how various technologies do this filtering for us, allowing -- maybe even pushing -- us to immerse ourselves in information bubbles. So we wind up surrounding ourselves with information sources "we can trust," which is another way of saying: information sources that reinforce the perspectives we already have.

 

So rather than really understanding the issues, we simply react to the headlines and thought bubbles that emerge from the echo chambers we've create for ourselves.

 

 

And so today -- in what seems like the craziest of ironies -- in an age where the highest quality of information is available to us, people are embracing the dumbest ideas.

 

To cite just three quick examples, note the widespread growth of three "tribes" of people -- with articles, YouTube videos, message boards, and the like -- promoting:

 

 

In the article I'm referencing, Simmons boils down today's problem into four coalescing factors. Any one of these by itself can be problematic, but all four of them working together have created a culture of people who are
(a) anxious - because most of the news they hear is blasting about dangers and disasters (b) suspicious - because they've been burned in the past institutions and media who've lied to them (c) overwhelmed - because there's so much going on that it's hard to keep up, and (d) misinformed - because in a complex world, the problems are complex and solutions are nuanced; and nobody likes to hear this -- so they're drawn to simplistic and misleading bumper-sticker mindsets and solutions.

 

The four factors that work together to create this problem are:
1. Content Shock -- too much information is now available and we struggle to distinguish what's valuable and accurate. "With the advent of online publishing and social media, the amount of knowledge available to us is expanding so fast that none of us can possibly keep up. Meanwhile, more content is added to the pile every second of every day. The gap between this total collective human knowledge and our time to consume it grows larger every second."

 

2. Echo Chambers -- when our news, social media, and relational world is narrowed and refined to feed us information that reinforces how we think, and filters out ideas and facts that might contradict our views. After describing how we tend to organize ourselves into like-minded tribes, Simmons says: "Each group lives in its own echo chamber, which it believes is the 'true' reality, and it fights to maintain this belief by demonizing other groups. And in an age of social media and targeted, personalized content, these echo chambers become even more insular, as we’re exposed to less and less information outside our own chosen groups."

 

3. Constant Distraction -- the economics of software and media today create incentives for companies to capture and retain our attention. In other words, they're not trying to capture our attention in order to sell us a product -- having our attention IS the product ... it's the end-game itself.

 

They do this by supplying us with information that's not always true, or helpful to us ... all that matters is that it keeps us engaged. (Outrage, for example, is a great motivator to keep people engaged in a conversation.)

 

 

4. Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) -- with so many important issues to keep up on, and so much interesting content to consume, we are having to make decisions about where to focus our attention, and there isn't always a clear answer. No matter what we focus on, there's always something else that seems just as -- if not more -- interesting and important.

 

So what's the solution?

In his article, Simmons suggests three remedies for this problem, and I'd like to add a fourth. But first, let's remind ourselves that there's good news here.

 

 

This is possible for us, IF we can discipline ourselves to focus on what is true and helpful.

 

I doubt the Apostle Paul was thinking about information overload when he wrote the following words, but they are applicable nonetheless:

 

Here are some ways to do that:

 

1. Filter all information you spend time on with the magic question. Simmons words the magic question like this: "Does this have the potential to fundamentally change my life?" Whenever you're making the decision to spend time reading, watching, or learning something, ask this question.

 

This might seem like a very high bar to set, but think of it this way: the question brings together several important factors:

Let's be honest: much of what we spend our time focusing on is not helpful. It would NOT pass this test.

 

 

2. Realize that Information Overload is an age-old problem with age-old solutions. Nobody can argue that information overload was ever as bad as it is today ... but it's helpful to keep in mind that it's not a new problem, and there are things that people have learned that can be helpful.

 

Maybe a better way to state it would be: "Apply the wisdom gained over the centuries about how to be informed." That wisdom would be to (a) consider the source, and (b) realize that different kinds of information yield higher quality. Then he illustrates a hierarchy:

3. Learning how to learn. This is the key skill that is hinted at in the title of this article. This is what successful people double down on ... focusing on how to learn.

 

It's not the purpose of this article to show how to do that. Do a search on that topic and read some articles. It's amazing how helpful it can be to make just a few changes in our thinking and reading habits. And if ever there was a time for people to learn how to learn better, that time is now.

 

I believe the key issue for "learning" that separates the wise person from the one who is confused and bewildered by all that's going on around them is this: the wise person takes the time to distill the accurate and important information, and integrates whatever new thing they are learning with what they already know. And in the process, they might very well change their views because of the new information. This leads to the final habit:

 

4. Force yourself to read outside your comfort zone. When it comes to subjects where there is controversy, it's important to hear from the other side. Get outside your echo chamber. When it comes to politics, if you are right-leaning, make sure you read some information from the left as well. Never trust what a "right-leaning" pundit says people on the left are saying. (And the same thing is true about the political left.) It's almost always going to be distorted to make their side look better. Read, listen, or watch for yourself.

 

It's been said that you cannot claim to be well informed on any issue unless you are able to state not only your view, but what the other views are ... and why yours is better. Until you understand what the opposition is saying, and have your own reasons why you disagree, you don't really understand an issue.