Aggregation is one resolution to this seemingly infinite supply of content material. Instead of discovering content throughout a number of platforms, you turn to a single platform for all content discovery and consumption wants. You have different apps for e mail, chat, video calls, sharing data and maintaining notes.
This process saves us SO much back-and-forth as a result of we’ve given one another loads of time to get our deep work done through the day whereas saving communication for later. When we at all times have our communication lines open, our precious psychological assets get taken away, distracting us from the crucial deep work we have to get stuff done. I understand that the data I am submitting might be used to offer me with the above-described merchandise and/or providers and communications in connection therewith.
The most typical channels are digital conferences, text-based chats, e mail, and social media. As the number of communication channels continues to develop, staff face an ever-increasing frequency of notifications and messages into the inbox. This often leaves staff dealing with communication challenges like data overload. According to the 2024 State of Business Communication report, staff noticed a 73% increase in the number of communication channels between 2023 and 2024. If your staff uses a combination of messaging tools, project administration, intranets, and email to keep operations ticking along, staff are probably struggling with communication overload. Extraneous Load – This is the mental effort wasted on distractions or poor tutorial design.
It’s widespread to really feel overloaded at work, particularly in fast-paced environments the place responsibilities and deadlines can rapidly accumulate. However, continually feeling mentally exhausted can be a sign of cognitive overload, which ought to be managed to avoid burnout. Cognitive overload doesn’t just have an result on the mind—it takes a toll on the body as nicely. Physical indicators include frequent headaches, fatigue, and different stress-related symptoms. Persistent rigidity or soreness could be brought on by stress, while problem sleeping might compound exhaustion. These bodily indicators are the body’s way of responding to mental pressure, signaling that it’s time to step back and reassess your workload.
Automating data clean-up processes can additional scale back handbook work, keeping systems streamlined and efficient. With the proper strategies and instruments, organisations can rework huge information streams into priceless insights. By staying proactive and implementing clear data administration practices. A sixth tip to deal with data overload and communication fatigue is to review and reflect on your performance and progress frequently. You can use instruments like journals, logs, or dashboards to track and measure your goals, duties, time, data, and communication. You can also use tools like surveys, polls, or feedback forms to collect and analyze suggestions from others.
Worse, everybody on your group has their very own app preferences, forcing you to undertake new apps. Use the above list to get a way of how to cope with info overload. Which is to say, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy to fighting info overload. Since then, the quantity of data out there to a mean person has increased exponentially. 2.5 exabytes of new information is produced every single day; the equal of 530M songs or 788,four hundred hours of HD video. Use instruments that let you search by keyword, tag, and even the person you talked about.
Last but not least, after laying the foundations of an IC strategy, the ultimate step is to continuously analyze outcomes in order to establish trends, patterns and areas of improvement. It is a no brainer that the fixed overflow of knowledge within the workplace can have its toll on employees’ mental and physical health. And the answer for this query actually is determined by a quantity of components ranging from personal traits and level of schooling and expertise all the way to motivation and job satisfaction.
Psychologist John Sweller formalized the cognitive load principle in the late 1980s. As part of his research on instructional design, or the design of instructing, he tried to identify methods that facilitate studying while preserving cognitive load to a minimal. These easy, instant actions can help alleviate communication overload right away. Tools meant to streamline work typically introduce extra complexity and stress.
Remember, completing an project lights up the brain’s reward pathways and boosts their dopamine manufacturing; the resulting sense of reward and satisfaction makes the brain crave more of the sensation. Due to the data overload from the sheer quantity of data, your child’s capacity to process any of it turns into overloaded and like a circuit-breaker, might shut down. In reality, neuroscientists have established that the longer the time spent learning with out taking a break and with out attempting to recall or retain what’s realized, the sooner the rate of forgetting.
IFTTT itself is full of 1000’s of recipes to automate every little thing from saving your work hours in Google Calendar to tweeting your Instagram footage on Twitter. You would possibly lose a couple of functionalities (‘X device doesn’t have Y tool’s features’), however the execs – higher info administration – are price it. The surfeit of data doesn’t just have an result on your productivity; it impacts the finest way you assume and perceive the world. Tools like Collabwriting allow you to spotlight, remark, tag, and group content into clusters. Whether it’s a LinkedIn publish, a YouTube video, or a analysis paper, you can save and revisit it with context – fast.
For setting up your digital brain, learn How to Build a Digital Brain (Your Second Brain). I advocate reading The Only Way to Remember Everything You Have Read to retain only the knowledge relevant to you. It’s essential to be purposeful about the kind and function of data you engage with. This helps prevent overload and ensures the knowledge you soak up is relevant and useful. Information overload can mess with our ability to suppose clearly and make good choices.
Using a single device to centralize all company communication can help alleviate the effects of information overload and achieve a more productive staff collaboration. When we try to work on multiple duties concurrently we’re tasked with locating and processing more data over a limited time. Needless to say, this solely adds to the cognitive load and in the end creates a countereffect. It hinders our long-term memory and creativity, along with a big decrease in productivity. As a result, we’re witnessing the US financial system shedding $900 billion every year as a outcome of a drop in employee productivity attributable to workplace info overload.
You can even use instruments like auto-replies, do-not-disturb modes, or calendars to signal your standing and availability. This means, you’ll be able to scale back interruptions and stress, and create more space and time for focused work. Additionally, leveraging info technology to automate routine information processing duties can release employees’ psychological resources for more critical pondering. Real-time suggestions techniques also can play a vital role in managing information circulate, providing employees with immediate insights, and lowering the burden of sifting through historical data. First, filtering info to ensure solely relevant information reaches workers can significantly scale back cognitive load. Categorizing and prioritizing info helps in organizing knowledge in a method that makes it easier to course of.
Fortunately, by structuring information in a means that aligns with how our brains really work, we are in a position to learn more successfully, assume more clearly, and avoid that feeling that our brains are at capability. Managing cognitive overload includes taking proactive steps to reduce back psychological pressure. Start by organizing and prioritizing tasks to give consideration to what’s most important. Take common breaks, set clear boundaries, and decrease distractions—such as silencing notifications or creating a designated workspace. Additionally, don’t hesitate to hunt support from colleagues or supervisors in case your workload feels unmanageable.
These developments have changed our lives for the better in some ways, but they’ve additionally brought along the problem of knowledge overload. A brain dump entails jotting down all your ideas, ideas, and duties. This can make clear your ideas, assist prioritize tasks, and enable you to delegate or delay less urgent matters.
This inability to soak up and process content, data and instructions received from a teacher at school can fuel stress and nervousness, which further impedes your child’s capacity to assimilate material. However, college students who battle constantly with information overload could not expertise academic success as a end result of they don’t know how to assimilate the quantity of information they’re receiving. The fear of missing out can make it difficult to ignore certain data sources. It’s straightforward to fret that by filtering content, you might miss out on important updates.
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In reality, more information has been produced in the final years than in all of human historical past. Trying to seek out reliable sources and related info within the sea of knowledge on-line can be overwhelming. The same is true for a social intranet or worker engagement app since you do need your employees to be related, and to have a place to exchange concepts and ask questions. What you won’t need, however, is them using texts or chat apps for that (for all the explanations we mentioned earlier). There is not any easy resolution to this concern, apart from forsaking all communication and residing in a cave (which, honestly, is beginning to sound fairly interesting proper now).
With follow, these methods will allow you to develop a more healthy relationship with information, cut back stress, and make extra knowledgeable choices in each your personal and professional life. In a world flooded with content material, filtering becomes crucial for psychological well-being. Learning to filter content means selecting what’s essential and valuable, whereas disregarding what’s irrelevant or distracting. This not solely saves time but in addition helps reduce stress and improve focus. You can use an app blocker like Jomo, out there free of charge on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Very easy to use it presents greater than 20 completely different ready-to-use blocking rules.
Cognitive overload occurs when your intrinsic and extraneous load exceed the capacity of your working reminiscence. When your working reminiscence is at capacity, new data simply doesn’t get retained, it doesn’t stick. Discover the means to build a communication-first culture in the workplace to boost collaboration, engagement, and productiveness. Read on to find out how these 10 Pumble options assist remove pointless meetings and boost productiveness. Not solely would your child benefit from shorter learning periods, which permit them to soak up and course of info in more digestible parts, doing so with short breaks in between helps build recall.
These are all simple and efficient strategies on the means to sort out not solely info overload, however other studying points your child might be going through. Conducting courses or study periods at residence in small minute sections can help scale back information overload as a result of it’s aligned with how the mind learns. If everything feels pressing, possibly you lose sight of your north star or the features that actually drive customer and business worth. And crucial data that was overlooked amid a flood of data contributed to the Challenger house shuttle disaster. For product managers, the problem is extra pernicious – info and information are the lifeblood of effective product administration.
Discussing the core forem open supply software program project — options, bugs, performance, self-hosting. This step is essential as a result of it tells your thoughts there’s more to communication than just e mail. The e-mail could probably be coping with purchasers, pushing ahead a video for production, gathering new pieces of content for the blog, and so forth. If the e-mail is necessary, the email sender is relying in your response to permit them to move on to the next steps. The Hyperactive Hivemind ruins our workflow since we’re continually on alert. This is only one example of how automation can cut back your info overload.
Stress, anxiety, reduced focus, and incapability to fall asleep are a few of the commonest challenges that folks uncovered to a excessive volume of information experience. In remote communication, info overload may be outlined as an extreme quantity of irrelevant and poorly timed information shared amongst group members within an organization. Juggling a packed schedule filled with online conferences, she found herself drowning in an ocean of data. Post-meeting note-taking and organizing was consuming into her productive hours, leaving her little time for strategic considering.
For example, a remote group with employees in New York and Sydney might battle to align schedules. As the New York employees send in questions and clarifications, the supervisor in Sydney might be deep asleep. When the supervisor is back on-line, he has a barrage of questions to reply to. Take, for instance, a group engaged on a project the place communication occurs through Google Meet, Slack, and ClickUp (read our ClickUp review). If the staff fails to obviously define when to use each platform, confusion and overload will turn out to be the norm.
These interactions typically present a deeper level of understanding and connection, which may be grounding and mentally refreshing. It’s necessary to domesticate these relationships not only for social well-being but in addition for cognitive well being. For these in search of additional support in managing information overload and maintaining cognitive function, nootropics and brain supplements have gained reputation. These dietary supplements declare to enhance memory, focus, and total brain well being.
From countless social media feeds to continuous information cycles, it could feel overwhelming to keep up. This constant inflow of information can lead to stress, anxiety, and decreased productivity. Frequent modifications and sophisticated enterprise constructions only worsen knowledge overload. And if your organisation is undergoing transformation, remember that it may be especially at risk. During transformative modifications, workers should adapt to new processes while managing an already heavy information load. All it takes is inconsistent internal communication to create confusion and resistance to alter, inflicting implementation delays and reducing staff morale.
This practice not only offers construction to your day but also helps you identify a routine. Use a timer to keep your classes inside a set time frame, reducing probabilities of burnout whereas still being productive. Being selective and intentional about the sort of data you devour can prevent you from taking in an extreme quantity of. Think high quality over amount — solely search out information that aligns with your corporation or occupation and filter out all the rest to remain targeted in your profession objectives.
The key to keep away from or remove data overload is a collective effort that begins from the worker all the way in which as much as the organization’s degree. However, it’s worth noting that there’s a limit to the quantity of information we can process. Once we reach our peak, the overload of knowledge will have the alternative impact thus lowering our ability to ascertain priorities, manage our train of thought and make good decisions. Some groups rely closely on collaboration and the constant trade of data while others follow a extra routine method and don’t require too much data to properly function.
Combined, these office components and symptoms can often result in extra advanced points, with employee burnout being probably the most severe. A Gallup examine reveals 67% of staff experience work-related burnout a minimum of sometimes. These symptoms can pretty shortly spiral in a remote setting, especially if distant staff fail to set the proper work-life boundaries early on. A perpetual surge of an extreme quantity of data combined with a limited time to process it could take a toll on people’s mental and physical well being.
When cognitive load exceeds our capability, it could lead to mental fatigue, decreased performance, and decreased productivity. Regular breaks all through your workday might help refresh your mental vitality and forestall burnout. Consider using the Pomodoro Technique, which includes working for 25-minute intervals adopted by quick breaks.
Germane Load – This is the productive mental effort that truly results in learning. When your brain is making sense of recent ideas, connecting them to what you already know, and storing them in long-term reminiscence, that’s germane load in action. The aim is to maximise this sort of load whereas minimising unnecessary distractions (extraneous load).
Yet few individuals construct the habits and lifestyles that allow for his or her brains to operate at their finest. Recovery from cognitive overload involves giving your thoughts a chance to rest and reset. Take time away from demanding tasks and interact in restorative actions, like mindfulness workouts, gentle physical exercise, and even spending time outdoors. Practice good sleep hygiene and take scheduled breaks through the day to help your mind recuperate.
Effective determination making is at the heart of business success, but information overload may cause determination paralysis. When teams face an excessive amount of conflicting or incomplete data, they battle to achieve timely and informed conclusions. One effective resolution to fight info overload is WallHabit, a dedication system that helps you manage your screen time.
Reaching out for help can be one of the efficient methods to handle a excessive workload. Employees should really feel snug discussing their duties with managers and colleagues, whether or not to clarify expectations, adjust priorities, or ask for extra assets. Collaborating with coworkers and openly sharing workload considerations additionally promotes a more healthy, extra supportive office culture.
While some individuals report optimistic effects, it’s important to method them with warning and seek the guidance of with a healthcare skilled before incorporating them into your routine. Not all dietary supplements are backed by scientific proof, and the effectiveness can range from person to person. To cut back extreme noise, contemplate assigning roles in your staff chat app, for instance. For some remote organizations, this could imply HR and communications groups are given entry to create public channels and share company-relevant files. For different companies, this will mean instructing all team members to follow the final team messaging chat etiquette. However, as already talked about, info overload is a quite complicated problem that requires a more diversified strategy.
Typically, the memory of what you be taught at the beginning of a lesson, and what you learn on the end, is the strongest. This is known as the motivation molecule and creates the will to do extra of what makes your youngster feel good. The great information is that with the flexibility to examine off those smaller sections as accomplished releases a chemical in your child’s mind referred to as dopamine. So listed below are three straightforward methods your baby can resolve data overload. It could really feel as if a circuit breaker shuts down and your youngster might turn into too exhausted to proceed processing extra information. Mindfulness is about being present within the moment and making deliberate decisions about what to interact with.
Rather than being unable to complete these tasks, they could be struggling to know where to start, in what sequence, and how to steadiness all their assignments whereas assembly the deadlines. Under moments of hysteria and panic, the brain becomes unable to form the neural connections needed to create and keep the reminiscences of what your youngster is learning. In my course, The ABCs of Academic Success, there’s a sequence of steps for folks to follow to assist scale back information overload for your child and help them thrive academically. The first and most essential step in filtering content is to outline your priorities.
Understanding the signs and symptoms of cognitive overload at work might help you catch it early and take steps to alleviate its effects. When directions, expectations, or targets are unclear, it’s easy to really feel confused or overwhelmed. Cognitive overload can quickly set in as we wrestle to make sense of imprecise instructions or ambiguous duties.
Ask questions, summarize information in your personal words, and discuss ideas with peers or examine groups. This process encourages important pondering and solidifies understanding, making it less likely that you’ll feel overwhelmed. When we speak about leadership and administration, one of the traits that a frontrunner must have is being in a position to see the bigger picture. They don’t simply focus on the staff they manage, however how their work pertains to other teams’ work inside the corporate, and how that pertains to services.
He talks concerning the problem of dealing with the fixed influx of data, creating processes to handle information overload, and the significance of interpersonal skills in the office. You may even schedule in sprint “days” or “mornings” when your group works on one task during a selected time and a different task the subsequent. Sprints are common in software program improvement groups, the place real-time collaboration is important to keep on observe so that task dependencies are being met. Information overload, also referred to as information anxiety or “infoxication”, is when we’re exposed to an extreme quantity of info than we can deal with at one time.
Practicing mindful data consumption might help you be more selective concerning the content material you devour. • Verbalizing our experiences and feelings by speaking them out or writing them down have additionally been shown to be deeply therapeutic. Access to information has never been easier, but the quest for good and related info seems increasingly difficult.
However, we will make an inexpensive assumption that, on common, the first two listed are going to be crucial, and the others less so. These are simply 2 examples of my private info overload and the method it provides me the sensation that I am drowning in to-do lists. It optimizes your study course of, guaranteeing larger retention and sooner mastery of any matter, so you can learn more in much less time.
Embrace the ability of intentionality, focus, and a dedication to managing the data flood. We live within the data age, where the number of data sources like e-mails, reviews, and notifications is growing exponentially. The workplace can really feel like a never-ending stream of irrelevant info. Let’s say your marketing team uses e mail, Slack, Asana, and WhatsApp for team communication. You can consolidate into Slack for real-time communication and Asana for task tracking. This will remove redundancy and guarantee every message has a chosen channel, lowering the chaos of juggling multiple platforms.
To avoid getting overwhelmed by unreliable or excessive info, curate reliable sources of content. Select a few reliable web sites, experts, or publications that align along with your priorities and ignore the remainder. The Decision Stack is Martin Eriksson’s mental mannequin for strategic alignment so that everybody in a company could make higher selections, quicker. Establishing a single source of fact is widely thought of greatest follow in product growth and decision-making, if implemented thoughtfully. If everyone is working from the identical supply data, then the data owner is understood, metrics are consistent, and assumptions are documented, and decision-making can pace up. But don’t fall into the entice of assuming that it provides you all the info you need – there’ll always be qualitative insights and market indicators that need to be integrated into choice making.
Services like phone or video therapy give workers convenient access to licensed professionals with out expensive in-person charges. Prioritizing psychological well being by offering reasonably priced on-line remedy demonstrates a dedication to supporting folks even amid busy schedules and heavy workloads. The ROI of companies like reasonably priced online therapy is happier, healthier, and extra targeted workers. This may find yourself in staff oversharing content via the company’s intranet, e-mail and even social media platforms, resulting in an overflow of relevant, irrelevant and duplicated data . With the advent of know-how, humans are actually afforded larger entry to data than ever earlier than (Lubowitz and Poehling 2010) and lots of can have access to any data irrespective of its relevance.
Wudpecker is more than just a fancy piece of tech, it’s a tool constructed with you, the fashionable professional, in mind. As knowledgeable, you are expected not only to attend conferences but also to interpret, bear in mind, and implement the flood of information that ensues. With every new meeting, the pile grows, making the state of affairs appear more and more unmanageable. This continuous uphill battle often ends in a sense of being perpetually swamped, taking a toll in your overall job satisfaction and morale.
Wudpecker jumps into action throughout your on-line conferences, working quietly in the background. It listens in, specializing in the essential stuff – the important thing points mentioned, decisions made, and actions assigned. And now, let’s talk about a game-changer in leveraging technology to handle info overload from on-line meetings… The second strategy includes making expertise your ally in managing info overload. It could seem paradoxical, given that technology, specifically the digital workspace, has contributed to the data deluge. Let’s think about a project supervisor coordinating a software growth project.
From the team’s perspective, managers are responsible for managing their team’s workload, setting priorities and allocating the proper time frames to do sure duties. This means, employees may have enough time to carry out their tasks without the constant want to switch between them. According to a Salesforce report, 86% of staff consider that workplace failures are directly tied to an absence of communication and collaboration in the workplace.
In the next section, I’ll share actionable ideas and tactics to combat information overload. One of the standout features of WallHabit is the “hold to unlock” function. When you block sure apps behind a digital wall, you must hold down a button for a set period of time to unlock them. This easy but efficient mechanism makes it tougher to access distracting apps impulsively, providing you with a moment to rethink whether or not you really need to open them. When it involves coping with information overload, it’s simple to think you have to make large changes.
This way, you’ll find a way to determine your strengths and weaknesses, your achievements and challenges, your gaps and alternatives, and your areas for improvement and growth. A fifth tip to cope with data overload and communication fatigue is to hunt help and suggestions from others. You can reach out to your colleagues, managers, mentors, or coaches, and ask for his or her recommendation, steering, or suggestions on the method to deal with your workload, data, and communication extra effectively.
The fixed stream of information additionally results in one thing known as context switching, which is detrimental to productiveness. Being under constant stress and feeling like you’ll have the ability to’t get on high of every little thing can be draining, resulting in exhaustion, disengagement, and finally, burnout. We all know the sensation of being overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of information coming at us from all angles, and the office is no exception. Information overload is a phenomenon that a lot of companies either confronted, are at present enduring or should tackle in the future. Its roots are down to a multitude of factors that are directly tied to the changing dynamics within the fashionable office. This way, staff will receive targeted and relevant content by way of the medium of their alternative thus guaranteeing high open and participation rates and, above all, an engaged and knowledgeable workforce.
This paradox requires a multi-pronged strategy that balances modern solutions with sustainable practices. The following sections will explore actionable methods to beat communication overload. Finally, sometimes it’s necessary to set requirements for a way and when work contact occurs so as to assist hold more work at the office, so develop and talk clear guidelines about “offline time” at residence. Ensure you’re getting enough sleep, eating well, and taking breaks to relax. Your physical well being is directly linked to your cognitive perform, so nurturing it could make a big difference in how successfully you study.
Although our capacity to multitask is commonly perceived as a positive trait, an excessive quantity of multitasking carries more harm than good for both people and teams. As we defined earlier, one of many many causes of knowledge overload is the time we obtain to process data. The extra multitasking we’ve to carry out, the extra data we have to search out and course of, and fast… earlier than we transfer to the next task.
Information overload commonly happens after we take in an abundance of data (i.e., by way of email), usually main us to make illogical selections or delaying our selections even additional. In today’s more and more digital world, infinite amounts of information are readily available at our fingertips. But as a substitute of being useful, this typically leads to confusion, distraction and frustration.
Breaking assignments down into a series of smaller tasks, each with their own deadline, can show very helpful as in comparability with engaged on intensive initiatives with none specific roadmap of tips on how to complete them. If your youngster is experiencing data overload, the inflow of new material coming their way may really feel a bit like this. These emotions block entry to greater government functioning in the frontal lobe of the mind.
Discover the importance of your employer model and how it impacts your ability to draw and retain top talent. Learn practical steps to strengthen your organization culture, enhance your popularity, and create an enticing employee expertise from within. So normalize having shorter, more focused meetings with only the people who have to be there. That method, you’ll be able to still get your level throughout with out overloading anyone within the process.
It’s a curse of the trendy age that has turn out to be increasingly more of a problem as expertise advances. Being at all times available and capable of talk with anybody at any time has its benefits, however it’s additionally a serious stress issue – each personally and professionally. You will discover right here Frequently Asked Questions about info overload in the workplace with all of the solutions in a single place. Our capability to make knowledgeable decisions is instantly correlated with the data we’re supplied with. On the one hand, in case we now have little to no info, the decisions we take will most likely be misinformed and customarily bad.
It’s simple to get hooked by the thought of creating $10k per thirty days from a blog if you end up constantly exposed to revenue reports showcasing average Joes doing exactly that. Techniques like utilizing noise-canceling headphones or setting boundaries with coworkers around quiet hours can even make a big distinction. Limiting distractions lets you focus fully on your tasks, ultimately lowering mental strain.
Our cognitive talents are being stretched to the limit on this digital era,” says the neurologist. One of the clearest business impacts of data overload is operational inefficiency. When workers are overwhelmed by an extreme quantity of knowledge, they spend useful time sorting through duplicative, irrelevant or conflicting info. In a company of 1,000 employees, this wasted time translates to 1000’s of lost work hours each week, decreasing output and driving up operational prices. Data overload isn’t just a personal productivity downside – it’s a severe business problem that impacts operational efficiency. When companies fail to handle the move of data successfully, the prices could be vital, from reduced productiveness and missed deadlines to weakened competitiveness and determination paralysis.
This approach, often referred to as the Pomodoro Technique, helps maintain attention and prevent fatigue. Being bombarded with constant information, facts, advice and suggestions could make operating your corporation and your life a problem — however you can regain clarity. The key’s to turn out to be extra proactive in making smart, filtered choices. When done right, you’ll be able to conquer picture overload and keep your career and your mental health in great form. Reinforcing accountability from the highest ensures that information management turns into a part of a company’s tradition.
While many organisations may have encountered the perils of information overload already, some may be fortunate sufficient to not have skilled it yet. To keep it this way, there are methods your organisation can implement right now to maintain it protected from knowledge overload sooner or later. This characteristic is especially helpful for many who find themselves spending hours watching quick videos with out realizing it.
It doesn’t matter how prime quality the knowledge is that you’re taking in when you don’t motion it right away. But luckily, you have management over how much information you select to devour. Learn solely what you should know at any period of time to get you to the subsequent step. Yet should you eat too much spinach, you’re taking in an excessive amount of oxalate, which can lead to kidney stones. When I’ve struggled with information overload, I’ve found that changing direction and letting my project lie for a short time – perhaps 2-3 weeks – has given me some new perspective. Once you’ve already caught a case of researchitis, it’s tough to untangle your self from all the knowledge you’ve already taken in.