What is infomania? It is defined by the Oxford dictionary as "the compulsive desire to check or accumulate news and information typically via mobile phone or computer". In an article in the Los Angeles Times newspaper business section for January 19, 2016 titled "Hello, I'm a digital addict" by Manoush Zomorodi, the author points out our increasing Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) manifested by attempts to absorb and retain large amounts of digital media. Individuals spend long hours reading and skimming through material at work and at home. Do you spend a lot of time trying to "stay in the know"?
It may be that you are causing undue stress upon yourself. No one realistically can keep up with all the material and information which comes at us each day. To try to do this exceeds our brain's capacity to process such large amounts of information. Our attempts to do so through multitasking are futile as increasingly there is consensus that multitasking is not effective and leads to decisional fatigue. In the LA Times article, Professor Gloria Mark at the UC Irvine Department of Informatics is mentioned. In her study, she found that the less sleep we get, the shorter our attention spans are on any computer screen the next day and the more likely that we are to turn to social media such as Facebook. Thus, the problem is that we train our brains to handle less challenging mental activities.
So what can you do if you suffer from infomania? Thankfully, there is hope for relief even without medicines.
First, you can take a breath, relax, and focus on the present. This often is termed mindfulness and helps our brains refocus. Whether you do meditation, yoga, progressive muscle relaxation, do something to help yourself refocus. Second, you then can spend more time prioritizing what is important for you to take in mentally, reflect on the material consonant with your goals, and let go of much of the rest.
Does it make sense to focus on what are your goals and what type of information helps you achieve them? Without doing so and reflecting on relevant material you've prioritized, you will be at the mercy of "infomania". And that's not good for you. As always, change your thoughts and change your results.
Dr. Paul Longobardi
For information on these and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com