TMI / Digital Information Overload

Too Much Information in the world today.

Not just the overly detailed gross TMI stuff, that’s obvious. I’m talking about the oversharing, over-tracking, and over-dependence on information that has quickly becoming ingrained in our everyday lives.

Smartphones are an amazing tool for so many aspects of life, but they can also become a burden. Thousands of apps can constantly collect data about where you go and what you do, or provide you with 24/7 access to pretty much anything you think you need to know - money and maps, stocks and sports, drivers, deals, and dates. But at some point all that info becomes a distraction, another set of chores to take care of every day, leading us to obsess and stress.

Search apps put every answer at our fingertips, but they also discourage the simple act of remembering. Map apps position every street and turn so we never have to know how to get anywhere again. Messaging apps put everyone at our fingertips so never have to actually recall how to make a call. A phone number, an address, a birthday... we don't need to remember any of that. Our digital pocket assistant knows all, so why bother.

Fitness bracelets, Apple Watch, and health tracking apps may help some people get in shape, but they can also provide you with so much information that they become counterproductive - at least it did for me. They track our steps...or they track our lack of steps causing us to stress about the lack of steps. They track our sleep...or track our lack of sleep causing us to stress about sleep...leading to even less sleep.

Updates, alerts, vibrations, summaries, transfers, pings.

Constant access, constant info.
Too much access, waaay too much info.

What about being present? 
What about remembering instead of Googling? 
What about walking instead of tracking? 
What about talking instead of tapping?

What about using our brain in the here and now, instead of using our thumbs as an excuse to be everywhere else?