How ‘Cognitive Overload’ Might Be Hampering Your Productivity
I write a lot about productivity, which means I also read a lot about it. Over the past few months, I’ve noticed an increase in the number of people discussing so-called “cognitive overload,” citing it as a potential reason for lower production. The phrase struck me as one of those buzzwords that has the potential to be overused until it no longer makes sense, but at its core they certainly have a real, clear definition that can be a useful tool for maximizing productivity.
Basically, cognitive overload is what happens when you’re flooded with more information than your brain can process, so your brain gives up completely, making it difficult to focus on anything. Here’s what to know about it and what to do once you’ve identified it.
What causes cognitive overload?
You know all those jokes on social media about how a single piece of modern-day news or food would kill someone born just a few centuries ago? They’re funny and hyperbolic, but they’re based on the fact that while the way we produce things and share information has advanced enormously, the human brain has fundamentally stayed the same. We say it all the time, but it bears repeating: we simply aren’t built to handle the onslaught of stimuli we receive on a daily basis.
Think about how many times your phone turns on in a given day. I just checked my Screentime app and discovered that even though it’s only early afternoon, I’ve already received 150 notifications directly to my lock screen today. It’s only Wednesday, so I’m averaging 213 a day, which according to my phone is down 20% from last week and I’m sure I’ll be back up by Sunday. Considering that a few months ago I redid all the settings on my phone so that not all of my notifications are sent to my lock screen, this is concerning. It’s just a lot of information to see all the time.
It turns out that textual information is the leading cause of cognitive overload, at least according to one study. Emails, Slack and Teams messages, text messages, calendar notifications: the endless stream of these bad boys contributes greatly to the general feeling of being unable to process or get anything done. If you think about an average day in which you felt too depressed to work, it probably included a lot. Audiovisual stimuli are less debilitating, the study found, so a Zoom call, phone call, or manager stopping by your desk may not trip you up as much.
Beyond feeling like you can’t even think clearly or that you’re too overwhelmed to act on a task, you may be able to recognize cognitive overload from other signs. If incoming messages make you feel frustrated or detached, for example, no matter what they say, this could happen to you. This is actually the symptom I experience most often, for what it’s worth. When I’m overwhelmed with too much information, I ask myself, “What are you doing?” to want?!“Every time my phone turns on, before I even see who’s reaching out to me. (Sorry, Mom.)
What do you think of it so far?
How I fight against cognitive overload
As I read through the study and thought about cognitive overload, I realized that I had already implemented a few tips that could have helped me avoid it. As mentioned above, I banned my least used apps from sending me notifications a few months ago. For years, I also changed my MacBook settings so that I wouldn’t receive any form of push notification on my computer. My phone is next to me at all times; There’s no good reason for the upper right corner of my laptop screen to hit me with the same notifications that the phone already shows me.
A few other proven productivity approaches came to mind once I had a good understanding of what cognitive overload really is. The one-touch rule of inbox management might come in handy if you find that messages are getting on your nerves. With this, you open each message as you receive it and make an instant decision on what to do with the content. It may seem counterintuitive to deal with every incoming message if you’re trying to avoid feeling exhausted by their volume, but I’ve found that when I see a preview of a message at the top of my screen and don’t do anything about it, it nags at me all day. Fixing it instantly helps me clear my mind and continue working.
Otherwise, how you combat this will be quite subjective, although I have one additional recommendation: If you’re unfamiliar with the Pomodoro technique, get familiar now. With it, you work for a set amount of time (usually 25 minutes) before taking a short break (usually five). When participating in these focus sessions, you absolutely must not allow yourself to be distracted, by putting your devices on Do Not Disturb mode or even using specialized apps to block other distracting apps. Knowing that you have to work seriously for a while can help you get in the zone and move away from information and decision paralysis, while knowing that you’ll eventually get a break can help you stay relaxed as you go.
