How to deal with information overload …

Knowledge is a good thing, too much information isn’t.

That is something many are learning the hard way as we try to navigate life in the “information age.” It’s not uncommon to hear daily of people who are so overwhelmed by the load of information they’re taking in that they need to disengage for a “digital detox.”

That’s not a healthy way to live!

If you’re feeling a little overwhelmed with the information that’s flooding your life, here are some steps to help you better deal with (and avoid) “information overload”:

1. Limit your sources and volume of information. Here’s the most basic issue to the problem of information overload – you’re choosing to allow too much information to flow into your life! “Information overload” doesn’t just “happen” to you, it’s the result of your choosing too many sources — and/or too much volume from those sources — of information to flow into your life. If you’re listening to or watching the news all day and all evening, scanning or reading multiple sources of news, and taking in every tidbit of information via digital or social media sites, you’re creating your own problem by allowing too many sources and too great a volume of information to flow into your life on a daily basis. So, change that by purposely placing limits on the amount of sources of information, and the volume you allow from them that you take in each day. Be selective about the sources of information you allow into your life daily, and then limit the time you spend on those sources.

2. Now limit the impact from the information you allow. If you’re allowing yourself to read or listen to reports about every bad thing happening from every corner of the world, it will be easy to feel overwhelmed or even become anxious and depressed. It might be time to realize you weren’t designed to handle that volume of news AND you actually don’t have a need to know about every bad (or good) thing happening all across the world. Yes, it is good to have some insight into what’s happening in the world we live in, but your first responsibility is to live life well where you are, and then reasonably extend beyond that. You aren’t God, you can’t respond to, or even pray about, every trouble and difficulty on the planet, so stop allowing yourself to be so impacted by information that you can’t do anything about, that isn’t your direct or immediate responsibility, and is beyond your reach in any way.

3. Filter all information through your faith in God. The world, and all its information, is too big and too much for you, but not for God. Instead of being loaded down by information, filter it through your faith that constantly informs you that God is in control, sovereign over all, and trust Him to reign and achieve His perfect will. The news can be a good source for prompting us to pray, but not from fear or panic because we know God is faithful, God is good, and God is in control. We can experience peace in the flow of any information when we filter all things through faith in God.

4. Don’t allow information intake to have a place of dominance in your life. It’s important to daily have times of quiet and peace, times when we withdraw to commune with God, times for engagement in relationships, and times for contemplation and for rest. When we give being flooded with information a place of dominance in our lives, we minimize those other things that are, quite frankly, far more valuable to daily living. Instead of spending hours each day being overwhelmed with another tsunami of information, use more of that time to do other things like reading a good book, get some exercise, be active in serving people in need, share the Gospel with someone you know who doesn’t know Christ, spend time nurturing relationships, and make a priority having daily time communing with God.

As I already mentioned, knowledge is a good thing, but too much information isn’t. There’s a vast difference between growing in knowledge and being buried under too much information, most of which isn’t directly applicable or beneficial. Make a decision to improve the quality of your life by not allowing yourself to daily be overloaded with information, but instead to filter in the kind and volume of information that helps you grow in knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

Scotty