Information overwhelm

Orange megaphone on an orange background

I reached the druid level of information overload. I have been in information overwhelm land for a while, and it’s time to do something about it.

Topics and contacts review

I have been on Twitter for a long time now. While I was at SiteGround, I started using it mostly for work-related stuff. The main goals were keeping up with the WordPress industry and communicating at events.

Occasionally, I also enjoy engaging in banter about OSS and debates about pineapple on pizza (yes, if you ask me).

My role at XWP doesn’t require being on top of WordPress-related news all the time. This is why I have started unfollowing accounts that tweeted mostly about that.

When I do a clear-out of social network contacts, my approach is always the same: can I follow/befriend this person somewhere else, where they share non-work related stuff? If yes, I will go there.

There are other topics I am still interested in, but I don’t want to get the news from Twitter (too noisy), Instagram (too performative), or LinkedIn (where do I even start with LinkedIn?). Those are, in no particular order:

  • feminism
  • leadership
  • black women in tech

I have signed up for a bunch of newsletters and I have cleaned up my Feedly too, to make sure I stay up-to-date.

I’ll show you the money if you don’t show me the ads

Ads fuel the sense of overwhelm and uneasiness I feel when I open any social network. Instead of “Fuck you, pay me“, I want to live in “Fuck ads, I’ll pay you” land.

I wish Instagram and Twitter had a paid plan to get rid of ads but alas, they don’t. Of course, with the volume of views they do, ads are a better source of revenue. However, the constant interruptions, make it hard to focus on what I want to see: kittens.

Blogs never went away, they transformed

People have been blogging for what? Twenty years now? It might seem like they have stopped, but it’s only the conversation that has moved.

I believe that now is exactly the right time to start engaging again via comments on blogs, Flickr pics, or Goodreads reviews.

Structured information intake

I have been spending less and less time on my social media feeds and more time reading and watching movies.

I noticed that I was using the same fragmented approach, and that was when I realized that I went from overload to overwhelm. Basically, I noticed that I was consuming content like I was scrolling a feed: idly.

In the last month, for example, I was able to read 5 books and finish 2 that have been on my nightstand for a looooong time.

I was also able to sit through whole movies, instead of watching only tv-series and youtube videos. I know it might sound trivial, but for me is an actual accomplishment.

So what’s next?

If you have a blog or a Flickr account where you post pics of your pets, babies and food – in this order – please let me know, I’d love to follow you!

As for me, I’ll be posting less and less and probably use Twitter mostly as a place to push other people’s content. Except for the occasional Miki and Maisy pics because they are adorable and honestly, I think this is right now the most valuable contribution I can make to the WWW 😉

Photo by Oleg Laptev on Unsplash

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