Living in the Age of Overwhelm
It’s too much. There’s too much. Of everything.
I’m typing this on my phone at 4:34 AM because I can’t sleep. It’s like my mind is literally overflowing, onto my pillow and into my sheets. And it’s uncomfortable trying to lay here in it.
I’m overwhelmed. And I suspect you are too. As humans, we weren’t designed to handle this much stimulus coming at us from all angles, seemingly in a constant flow.
We’re drowning in information. In notifications. In emails. In memes. Newsletters. Podcasts. Apps. News. My god, the news.
You can understand why some people check out and stop trying to keep up with what’s happening in the world.
The world. It used to be a huge place, most of which we never knew or cared about. We had our smaller communities and lived locally.
Now we live everywhere, knowing everything, all at once.
Yes, it’s great that we can be aware of what’s happening across this massive planet of ours. We just take for granted that the Internet is a thing that enables us to be SO aware and informed.
But with that constant stream of updates and alerts, we’re burning ourselves out and not making time to enjoy our smaller worlds.
Our friends, families, neighbourhoods, third places, local groups/meetups.
I’d be willing to bet that on many days, you don’t interact with any human beings in-person beyond maybe your immediate family. Lots of us work remotely so we’re not physically alongside our co-workers. And even if we go out to drop kids off at school, grocery shop, get a coffee, we can do it all without speaking to a person.
Self-checkout. Mobile ordering. Stare at your phone so other parents at your kid’s school won’t talk to you.
We’re social creatures but we’re over-thefuck-whelmed.
The fact that I’m even writing this, to publish online, in the hopes people will find it in the endless sea of other pontifications…feels like I’m just adding to the noise.
But I’m a consummate creator. I have to write, design, experiment, build, and tinker. I’ve tried just not. It doesn’t work well. Yes, it’s yet another thing on my plate but it serves as a release valve. A way to drain some of the gunk that makes its way into my head all day, everyday.
Like this, right here.
It’s now 4:49 AM and I should be sleeping. I NEED to be sleeping. I’ve got shit to do tomorrow (ugh…today, technically). And I think hammering away at my phone screen for the past 15 minutes has helped.
Ok. Whew. Deep breath. I’m going to try this sleep thing again. Good night.
