Information overload, also known as:
- infobesity,
- infoxication
- information anxiety,
- information explosion
is, I think, one of the curses of today. You can see this clearly with the COVID-19 pandemic. Conspiracy theories, experts pontificating, constant news from all corners of the world. It bombards you wherever you go – signs everywhere, radio, television, newspapers, social media, people talking about it. In the end all you feel is exhausted rather than informed.
I read a very interesting article here about crisis fatigue, and I think information overload plays a very big part in it.
I was fascinated by the four stages because I can recognise them in myself and others around me:
The experts and politicians in Sweden (and probably other countries too) are still acting as though we are in the heroic and honeymoon stages, when we are actually in the disillusionment and fatigue stage. The Swedish government were having daily press conferences just befor Christmas and people had just stopped listening to them because they were not unusual anymore. It was the same old message being trotted out to a tired, frustrated audience. We don’t listen to signals in the same way, and they cause anxiety and depression rather than inspiration and motivation. I wonder how long it will take for mental health to return to normal after this is over. If it is ever over.
