In This Time of Information Overload, Relax
Sorry, but multitasking is still going to get you nowhere.
The other day, I realized something that hadn't occurred to me until then- I was very overwhelmed, stressed, and depressed.
Not just with my job and personal circumstances, but from reading news these past two months peppered with apocalyptic events, crime lords, and seemingly no hope for humanity.
As a result, that was negatively affecting my sense of self. I was reading about bombings in Ukraine, which led to thinking negatively about my work and life in general, affecting my ability to shut down at night and relax.
It was the negativity, but it was also something else. Often, I would sit, work by my computer, and think, holy shit, this is way too much information. Maybe it’s because I work in a job that requires me to be on the Internet all day, and the Internet is (most of the time) an extremely negative place.
This is obvious in the newsletters I get in my inbox: COVID-19 is still around, women are still, again, facing disparities in work and at home (I know, I’m a woman, I get it), Russia is still committing war crimes, and people are wondering why there was a shooting in a Brooklyn subway (with thankfully no fatalities).
Now, it seems like the world is keeping on eye on these issues but moved onto who-said-today’s-worst-quote, Twitter celebrity news, and what billionaire is going to buy what company today (although, if you open the New York Times’ home page, you’ll see there’s still plenty going on about some of the topics I’ve mentioned above).
Still, ask most people and I’m sure the majority will tell you that yes, the news today is too negative, and yes, their brains do feel overloaded with too much information.
Information overload vs. the human race
Why is there so much information out there anyway? Is it because technology is moving too fast? Or are humans just too slow to catch up?
Maybe it’s… both?
In 2008, Americans consumed constant information on their devices for an average of 12 hours a day. Most of this information was interactive, meaning we’re connected to the latest news updates through reading instead of listening passively via radio, TV, or word of mouth.
This was more than ten years ago, so I would love to know how much information Americans consume now with our Fire TV/iPad/iPhone/Apple Watch/or Alexa.
Technology is only going to keep advancing, and most people think that it’s advancing too fast. Even for Gen Z, most think that NFTs are a waste of time, and are just as confused as everyone else in hearing new buzzwords like ‘minting’ or ‘DeFi’. (WiFi??) Just so you know, it’s not a Gen Z world like so many people think. It feels more like a playground full of finance/data-savvy rich people. But anyway, back to the newsletter.
The modern world is taking a toll on us. It would be interesting to know how exactly we came to be from living our basic lives as farmhands horseback riding to getting carpal tunnel 100 years later from overtyping in a cubicle office with the light of a lamp to keep us warm.
Who knows, but the most important thing to think about is that we’re more inefficient than we’ve ever been. An increase in technology means we can be in more than two places at once, and do two things at once (aka multitasking), which makes us more stressed. In the long-run, multitasking lowers EQ and IQ and can lead to possible brain damage.
It’s so easy for all of us, especially Millennials and Gen Z, to scroll for hours on our phones, laptops, or tablets. We can get burnout or depressed more often than other generations faster because we’ve absorbed so much information we can’t even remember.
Gen Z have been the ones to grow up with technology, so getting away from our phones or an app for a couple of days isn’t easy.
Work smarter, relax harder
Our ancestors worked 3-hour days and just sat back and ate nuts in their free time. So it feels easy to say, yes, I can do nothing for an hour!! (haha nope!)
Hobbies that feel like a waste of time are probably what we need to feel energized again and not like we’re robots trying to reboot for the next day.
You hear so much advice on how to work harder, faster, and more efficiently. Phrases like “work smarter, not harder” are almost always in the news.
Stopping to do a hobby you’ve never tried that doesn’t give anything tangible in return feels strange. But it can lead to benefits like improving focus and fostering creativity.
This feels like a twist to the phrase I mentioned earlier, except instead of working smarter, we’re relaxing… harder? Work smarter, relax harder? Yes. I’m coining that phrase.
From the recommendation of a friend, I decided to try this and start on a hobby I’ve never heard of- diamond painting.
For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s like color-by-number, only with beads (aka, diamonds). Each space on the plastic canvas you can buy is for a specific bead, and you grab the pen that comes with your kit, painstakingly pick up each bead, and place it on the canvas. And you do that over and over, until you decide you can’t take it anymore.
The end result looks like a sewn picture, but with beads. And if you’re wondering, god, wouldn’t that take forever? You’re right. It does.
To this day, I haven’t finished a diamond painting. Beside me right now is my diamond painting on my desk, bright blue beads still in a tray, waiting for me to drop whatever I’m doing and finish it.
Whenever I start doing picking up the beads, I feel like I’m wasting time. I start to think things like, “Why am I even doing this?” “What’s the purpose in this?” and “This won’t even look that good finished.”
Honestly, I thought about hanging it up when I’m done, but I feel like hanging up what looks like a sewn picture might be the equivalent of a mom hanging up an embroidery she bought at the local thrift store of a family from the 1980s (at least that’s what my mom did).
But when I started, after 10 minutes, I actually felt calmer. I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to keep going and going until I finished a chunk of the canvas, a shiny, sparkly picture that I could say, yes, it took forever, but I made it. And I didn’t even have to use the Internet.
Hi, you’ve made it to the end! 😊 If you want to learn more about how to take care of yourself, what’s happening on TikTok and Twitter, and read more personal essays involving Gen Z life, subscribe below to get a weekly email.
You can also share this so your family can read something entertaining, or as a way to inform them on what’s going on in the Internet without telling them face to face. Either way is fine with me.