OSM Town Compass @compass

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**earthling** @appassionato@mastodon.social · Mar 30 *

Mar 30 *

earthling @appassionato@mastodon.social

@Daojoan *overload

#books
#InformationOverload
#brain

As the pace of technological change accelerates, we are increasingly experiencing a state of information overload. Statistics show that we are interrupted every three minutes during the course of the work day. Multitasking between email, cell-phone, text messages, and four or five websites while listening to an iPod forces the brain to process more and more informaton at greater and greater speeds. And yet the human brain has hardly changed in the last 40,000 years. Are all these high-tech advances overtaxing our Stone Age brains or is the constant flood of information good for us, giving our brains the daily exercise they seem to crave? In The Overflowing Brain, cognitive scientist Torkel Klingberg takes us on a journey into the limits and possibilities of the brain. He suggests that we should acknowledge and embrace our desire for information and mental challenges, but try to find a balance between demand and capacity. Klingberg explores the cognitive demands, or "complexity," of everyday life and how the brain tries to meet them. He identifies different types of attention, such as stimulus-driven and controlled attention, but focuses chiefly on "working memory." Dr Klingberg asserts that working memory capacity, long thought to be static and hardwired in the brain, can be improved by training, and that the increasing demands on working memory may actually have a constructive effect: as demands on the human brain increase, so does its capacity.

Our lives are getting faster and faster. We are engulfed in constant distraction from email, social media and our 'always on' work culture. We are too busy, too overloaded with information and too focused on analytical left-brain thinking processes to be creative. Too Fast to Think exposes how our current work practices, media culture and education systems are detrimental to innovation. The speed and noise of modern life is undermining the clarity and quiet that is essential to power individual thought. Our best ideas are often generated when we are free to think diffusely, in an uninterrupted environment, which is why moments of inspiration so often occur in places completely separate to our offices.
To reclaim creativity, Too Fast to Think teaches you how to retrain your brain into allowing creative ideas to emerge, before they are shut down by interruption, distraction or the self-doubt of your over-rational brain. This is essential reading...

**Stefano Marinelli** @stefano@bsd.cafe · Sep 30, 2024

Sep 30, 2024

Stefano Marinelli @stefano@bsd.cafe

In recent days, I’ve observed and talked to some people.

Some responses made me reflect: "I tried Mastodon, but I didn’t know whom to follow. No system gave me targeted suggestions, and I felt lost and abandoned it."

"Purchases? Mostly online. Sometimes I don’t know what to buy, and targeted advertising suggestions help me."

"I get my information online, especially from social media. I receive all the news that interests me, while official sites are full of things I have no interest in."

One of the problems in today’s society is that people, bombarded by the sheer amount of information available, feel lost. Algorithms help them choose, decide, and orient themselves, but the issue is that if these algorithms are not calibrated positively but solely in an interested manner, the result is to produce individuals incapable of making informed decisions, conditioned exclusively by what is suggested, stated, and amplified.

It’s as if, after years of guided information, many people believe they are always right (the "famous" bubble), feel entitled to everything (advertisements), and perceive the world as hostile (conspiracy theories, etc.).

Artificial intelligence has now become another example of this system: I know people who can no longer do anything without it. They try to impose me (incorrect) IT sysadmin solutions me because "the AI said so."

At this rate, I fear the most atrophied part of our body will be our brains.

#Mastodon #SocialMedia #InformationOverload

**JoeP** @JoeP@mastodon.world · Oct 19, 2023

Oct 19, 2023

JoeP @JoeP@mastodon.world

Question to #mastodon #fediverse users - do you have too much in your timeline to keep up with? And do you deal with it by artificially limiting what you follow ... or do you create multiple accounts for different interests? That's what I'm thinking of doing. Maybe one for nature and art, one for tech things, one for news.

#lists aren't the solution at the moment because they can only hold accounts not hashtags. So far.

#firehose #InformationOverload

**Emily King** @emkingma@mstdn.social · Sep 25, 2023

Sep 25, 2023

Emily King @emkingma@mstdn.social

There is an overwhelming amount of information online for new parents. Most of it is terrible and I can't see it getting any better. In my latest personal blog post I explore how this situation is a f**king mess.

https://drowninginmultimedia.co.uk/2023/09/23/information-for-new-parents-is-a-fking-mess/