Is anyone else feeling overwhelmed by the sheer amount of content out there these days?

Substack, LinkedIn, monthly newsletters, newsfeeds and online articles, not to mention podcasts and YouTube videos. I’m not even talking about the mindless click-bait. I’m talking about the content that is *actually good*. The stuff that is interesting and meaningful. My curiosity is piqued, my interest is hooked, my mind sees the value, but my brain just can’t keep up.

I’ve come to realise that it’s not just me failing to keep up. It’s a problem framed by a couple of realities. Firstly, the volume of content has exploded – I think we all feel this. Every platform is algorithm-driven and built for constant posting and through that becomes an endless current of information.

Secondly, our attention is fragmented across a choice of platforms and endless refresh/updates within platforms.

Thirdly, the cost of not keeping up feels higher – the sheer volume and speed of content coming at us means no matter how hard we try, we can’t read it all. I find this stressful.

And lastly, on many platforms, engagement has shifted from conversation to reaction. A kind of “like, share, move on” mentality that doesn’t allow time to process and engage meaningfully.

The truth is my attention is stretched so thin, it’s becoming threadbare. And it’s affecting how I read and engage with content: scanning, rushing, not really taking anything in. I don’t think our brains were designed for this amount of information.

In a desperate bid to regain control of my content consumption, I’ve started:

✔️ Avoiding the endless sprawl of the internet by being mindful of who I choose to follow and give my attention to. Let’s call it brutal curation – unfollow, cut-off, ignore.

✔️ Recharging my mind offline by reading things on paper.

✔️ Using a read-later app like Instapaper to free myself from the algorithm. I can curate and gather the things I want to read more carefully and do it at a slower pace when I feel like it.

✔️ Clicking to the “Favourites” view on Instagram (I only learned of this recently) so that I only see the posts of the people I want in chronological order and can sidestep the time sinkhole that is reels and recommended content.