I appreciate anyone who is here taking time out of their day to see what has dribbled from my brain.  I appreciate it even more after listening to a story on NPR yesterday about Digital Overload.

According to the story, we are taking in three times the information our grandparents were when they were my age in the 60’s.

That’s a lot of information and really, how much of it is necessary?  Ironically, the more information we take in, the more difficult it is for us to filter out the irrelevant drivel.

I hit a wall with TV a few years back–probably around the time I had kids–where I just couldn’t sit down for long periods of time surfing channels they way I could in my teens and 20’s.  And I was a champion channel surfer!  Maybe it was all the time these little people demanded.  Maybe it was the advent of the web and the surfing I could do there.  Whatever it was, I became more selective in what I watched.  I couldn’t tolerate the sitcoms that all of the sudden seemed inane.  I COULD NOT tolerate the “reality” TV shows that gave fame to people who did nothing to deserve my attention except to act like assholes in front of the nation.  (I know. I know.  Everyone loves Dancing with the Stars and the Real Housewives.  Trust me it stinks to have no way to take part in a conversation when it turns to these.)

Was my brain doing me a favor?  Was it crying enough?

As time went on, my free time became focused on the internet where I noticed the cycle repeating itself.  First, the stupid chain emails made my eyeballs itch.  Then the social media “experts” that we all had to read because they were so brilliant?  I stopped noticing anything new.  The viral videos that spread like wildfire?  Those are minutes (only a few at a time I realize) that I will never get back.

I hunger for substance.  I hunger for connection.  I hunger for community.  I have gotten that at times online, but I wonder if all the noise isn’t a bit too much to make it worthwhile.

What will happen to us if we subsist on nothing but the sugary carbs that parts of the Internet and social media worlds have become?

Has this happened to you?  What have you done to combat your own digital overload?