Is There Just Too Much Information?

“Information overload” is defined as the tipping point when the input of information exceeds an individual’s capacity to process it all. When we begin to feel overwhelmed and stressed by the amount of information that is available, we can end up feeling more stressed and overwhelmed than knowledgeable.

For parents, the urge to find certainty through online research—only to end up feeling even less certain—is particularly common. How can we make the constant availability of information, useful and otherwise, work for us rather than against?

Amy and Margaret discuss:

• How "information overload" can reduce decision-making abilities
• Whether obsessive internet searching is the result, or cause, of low self-confidence in parents
• How to know your limits, and then set them

Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:

• Terese Glatz and Melissa A. Lippold. “Is more information always better? Associations among parents’ online information searching, information overload, and self-efficacy.” International Journal of Behavioral Development.
• Jessica Runberg for The Washington Post: Is crowdsourced parenting eroding confidence?
• Cara Goodwin for Psychology Today: New Study: Information Overload for Parents

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