The Cost of Information Overload on Your Mental Health

How many unread emails are sitting in your inbox right now? How many open browser tabs do you have? How many new articles, posts, videos, and podcasts are waiting for your attention? In a world where information never stops flowing, what is all that input costing your mind?

At Televero Health, we’re increasingly working with people whose mental health is suffering under the weight of constant information consumption. They come to us feeling scattered, overwhelmed, and intellectually exhausted, often not connecting these symptoms to the sheer volume of data they’re attempting to process every day. What they discover is that the human brain has finite capacity for information intake – and regularly exceeding that capacity exacts a significant toll on cognitive function, emotional wellbeing, and overall mental health.

Maybe you’ve experienced this yourself. Maybe you feel a persistent sense of falling behind, of never quite catching up with all you “should” be reading, watching, or listening to. Maybe you find yourself skimming rather than deeply engaging with content, yet still feeling overwhelmed by the volume. Maybe you notice increasing difficulty making decisions or forming clear opinions as you’re exposed to ever more information, much of it contradictory. Maybe you feel a subtle but constant pressure to stay informed about everything from world events to industry trends to cultural conversations – a task that has become literally impossible in our information-saturated age.

This experience isn’t just a matter of poor time management or lack of focus. It reflects a fundamental mismatch between the human brain’s processing capacity and the unprecedented volume of information now available. Our cognitive architecture evolved to handle the amount of data available in small communities with limited communication technology. Now we’re asking that same brain to process information equivalent to reading 174 newspapers each day – the amount of data some researchers estimate the average person encounters daily in our digital environment.

The cost of this mismatch manifests in several important ways. First, attention becomes increasingly fragmented as the brain attempts to track too many information streams simultaneously. This reduces both productivity and the satisfaction that comes from deep focus. Second, decision-making becomes more difficult as excessive options and conflicting information create cognitive overload. Third, retention and learning suffer as the brain has insufficient time to consolidate information before new input arrives. And fourth, stress increases as the gap between available information and our capacity to process it creates a persistent sense of falling behind.

We see these impacts across diverse life situations. The professional drowning in industry content they feel obligated to consume. The parent trying to research every parenting approach while feeling increasingly confused by contradictory advice. The socially conscious person attempting to stay informed about multiple global and local issues while becoming progressively more anxious and less able to take meaningful action. The individual whose leisure time has been transformed from genuine restoration into another venue for information consumption through social media, news, and endless entertainment options.

If information overload is affecting your mental health, know that the solution isn’t necessarily to disconnect completely. Information itself isn’t the enemy – it’s the mismatch between volume and processing capacity that creates problems. The goal is to develop a more intentional, selective relationship with the information you consume – one that acknowledges your brain’s limits while still allowing you to stay appropriately informed about what truly matters to you.

In therapy, we help people develop this more balanced approach through several strategies. First, by becoming more conscious of their actual information intake – often by tracking consumption patterns for a few days to create awareness of what’s currently automatic. Then, by clarifying personal values and priorities to distinguish between information that serves those priorities and information that simply creates noise. Finally, by establishing practical boundaries and habits that support more intentional consumption.

These boundaries might include designated times for email, news, or social media rather than constant checking. Or limits on how many information sources you follow in particular areas. Or regular digital sabbaticals that allow your brain to process what you’ve already consumed before taking in more. Or practices that support deeper engagement with fewer sources rather than shallow processing of many.

What we’ve found is that people who create these boundaries often discover something surprising: they don’t actually miss most of the information they were previously consuming. Instead, they find that limiting input often leads to greater clarity, deeper understanding of what truly matters to them, and more capacity to take meaningful action based on the information they do consume.

This doesn’t mean becoming uninformed or disconnected from important issues. It means recognizing that in an age of information abundance, the scarce resource isn’t information itself – it’s the attention and processing capacity we bring to it. And stewarding that capacity wisely becomes an essential form of self-care in a world that increasingly treats attention as a commodity to be captured and exploited rather than a limited resource to be respected.

Because the truth is, consuming more information doesn’t automatically make you more informed, more effective, or better prepared for life’s challenges. In fact, beyond a certain threshold – one that most of us now regularly exceed – additional input often creates confusion rather than clarity, paralysis rather than action, and exhaustion rather than insight. Recognizing and respecting your brain’s processing limits isn’t ignorance – it’s wisdom.

Ready to develop a healthier relationship with information consumption? Start here.