Living Mindfully in the Age of Information Overload
We currently live in an age of not only information overload, but also (subsequently) misinformation overload.
And unfortunately, with this great accessibility to knowledge, it also means anyone anywhere can publish an opinion or lightly Googled topic, and it could easily spread and be conceived as professional or expert advice.
“With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”
Now, we’ve already discussed the difference between Searching something and Researching something, and how to delineate credible/expert/academic information from less credible information and sources. What we haven’t talked about yet is: how many well-intending (or neutral) stances online we see – and how much we don’t have to listen to them.
This blog was inspired by this post from @seerutkchawla on Instagram:
YOU DON’T HAVE TO LISTEN TO EVERY VOICE ON THE INTERNET
Be political/ don’t be political
Be healthy/ ‘f$@k diet culture’.
Healing journey / live your life
You HAVE to think this / you DON’t have to think this.
Be legendary / hustle culture is harmful
Man up / sit in your feelings all day
Be grateful / no that’s toxic positivity
Do what is right for you
-Seerutkchawla
Every time we use our devices, email, social media, etc., we are bombarded with snippets and posts about how to live our life, improve some aspect, stop doing something, start doing something, care, not care, the list goes on and on.
Including us! We are one of those sources. But our message is clear: listen to yourself (your gut, your mind’s eye, your intuition, your consciousness, your mindfulness), and not the internet. Especially when it’s impossible to research everything you ever look at.
That is, you have every right to slow down and not listen to something… ESPECIALLY if you don’t yet know if that info/person is credible.
Just like you wouldn’t heed all the information thrown at you if walking through a parade of newspaper hawkers, you don’t need to heed everything you see on your feeds - even if it sounds good or healthy.
Millions of well-intending people share with you what they eat in a day… But that doesn’t mean you should follow their diet. They share what they’re currently reading… But that doesn’t mean you must get back into a reading practice. They share how they scaled their side hustle into a 6-figure business… But that doesn’t mean you have to monetize your hobby.
[Does that mean their diet is unhealthy? Sometimes. Does that mean the book is actually really problematic and so are they for promoting it? Sometimes. Does that mean they should feel bad for promoting “hustle” culture? No, not necessarily… But sometimes.]
How Technological Algorithms Shape Our Reality
The point is, there is not a single topic that isn’t:
1) nuanced and complicated
2) over-simplified for the sake of social media
[Even this topic you’re currently reading is nuanced and simplified (because yes, vital resources for unlearning internal biases are on social media, social issues go viral on TikTok, legitimate therapy accounts on Instagram do help people, etc.).]
Everything we face as people is nuanced, but technological algorithms have made it so that those nuanced topics must be delivered in a short, snippy, pretty way on Instagram.
And what has resulted from that is you, me, and all of us have become completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information we take in on a daily basis.
We cannot realistically research everything we see and hear to make sure it’s credible - which is why misinformation can get carried so far. But constant mindful research is not the answer either. The answer is slowing down, and practicing compassion.
The answer is giving yourself time to learn, if you want to. It’s holding each other accountable… If you are in a credible position to do so.
The answer is practicing more mindfulness (which sometimes means ceasing to take in information at all) → so that we may respond to information, rather than react to it.
The answer is practicing compassion → so that we may have real, nuanced discussions, not comment-section-cancel-culture.
The answer is… Still evolving. Just like we are. Just like technology is.
Especially when it comes to mental health, spirituality, and your experience as a human in our digital age, there is too much to take in. And you are allowed to listen to yourself first. You are in charge of who you follow. There is indeed a balance between allowing an account to healthily challenge your beliefs, and forcing yourself to over-consume social media.
So while we can’t break down that balance in a single blog post (or the pretty Instagram post we’ll post to announce this blog), we do hope you find a grain of salt here to add to your pile, and a way to comb through the static with mindfulness.