
How to overcome information overload. Any advice? - rammy1234
I always feel like I am reading or assimilating way too much information. How you all manage this? How to beat FOMO on something interesting.Greatly appreciated any advice or thoughts on this.
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paulriddle
I'd like to go a little meta.

If you really want to do it, then stop looking for a reason to do it. Because
any piece of text containing _the answer_ is probably going to fit in a few HN
comments, because that's what you're currently looking at, an HN thread. You
are looking for a small piece of text giving you the reason to limit your
information intake and providing a technique to do so.

Most likely you won't find what you're looking for. And even if you do find
something that appears to be _that_ , it will be inferior to your experience
of actually doing _that_. Imagive a set of all possible HN comments. It
contains no element that is better than you simply deciding, without any good
reason or a way to do it clearly formulated in your mind, to simply set aside
a couple of weeks and read only one book exclusively.

Now you might have two objections.

First, what if the piece of text is large, like a book? To that I'll say that
books have to satisfy publishers and earn a profit, which manifests itself in
disgusting ways like containing a lot of filler text and flawed case studies
that presumably prove the author's point. I couldn't read "Shallows: What the
Internet Does to Our Brains" and "Deep Work" because of that. All books about
talent or peak performance are pretty much worthless in my eyes. I might be
wrong about their value, but one thing is certain - they do not contain a
clear answer and come with it's own set of issues.

Second, my claim that taking two weeks and doing one thing is better than any
HN comment. I'll say it doesn't even matter. Two weeks are gonig to pass
regardless, so you might as well try doing that instead of simply looking for
a piece for text saying whatever. You might decide to do two things or three.
That's fine, the point is to get meaningful experience doing a few things over
a period of time. It could be that it is simply not for you. It also could be
that your brain, physically, reached the point where neurons are wired in such
a way that you're never be effective. Good luck rewiring this mess with an HN
comment.

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rammy1234
Beautiful. Thanks for this comment. Straight and upfront.

Why did I ask her , 2 reasons

1 . Selfish to find reason , I am addicted and I need some good reasons as
reaffirmations. It is just me looking at a coach or turning to something
positive and reaffirming. You did provide that here for me. This piece of text
did that trick.

2\. To others if they stumble upon this post , might do the same ( my best
positive guess ) .

Cheers mate for this wonderful piece of text that is making me to check less
social sites and more productive with my static site generator idea I am
working on.

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ekr
Having experienced something similar at one point, I'll claim this is not
about the information itself, but about the state your brain is operating in.
It is not my intention to offer a diagnosis, but keep in mind these conditions
are a spectrum, a large percentage of the population has various (sub-
threshold) levels of things such as ADHD, sensory modulation disorder or
anxiety. If any of these ring a bell, solving these problems (which really is
a single issue at its root) will solve the information overload.

And when I mentioned brain state, I was referring to the electrical activation
pattern of the brain, which you can see with an EEG device.

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karmakaze
By accident I found a way to spend easy less time on HN. I was looking for a
way to find more niche posts and made
[https://hackerer.news](https://hackerer.news) that separates posts by time
from votes. Now I can quickly scan a day's posts and see new ones without
rescanning the popular ones repeatedly. It's so quick to see everything at
once in sections that I often get bored and do something else. It goes back a
few days that I never feel like I'll miss anything.

~~~
rammy1234
why this site of yours is not picked up by a lot. Should be in showcase. Will
bookmark this one ( but less often I will try to visit )

Cheers

~~~
karmakaze
Thanks. Hope you enjoy your visits. Clicking the title heading or
clock/triangle can change modes. Word of warning: visits will save you time
but may reduce excitement of HN as it takes away much of the slot machine
effect.

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ArtWomb
Physiologically speaking, the symptoms of data deluge probably most closely
resemble that of sensory overload. Think of tourists visiting NYC, London or
Paris for the first time. The mind attempts to "shut down". Or triggers a full
blown panic attack including hyperventilation.

It's a spill over in your cognitive load balancer. That section of the brain
that exists to mediate and filter incoming requests has become congested. I'd
look into the literature of traumatic brain injury that results in increased
sensitivity. For example, in patients with acute photophobia, one remedy is
replacing fluorescent indoor lights, with outdoor sunlight and adopting a more
natural circadian rhythm with the rising and the setting of the sun.

