We are bombarded with algorithm-driven information from various sources throughout the day. Thanks to the UX teams and the heavy experimentation of behavioural loops, we are hooked to our feeds from social media, LinkedIn, news, or any other source we are subscribed to. Over time, the information fed to us becomes entirely beyond our control, yet it impacts our state of mind, work, and energy in multiple ways, thanks to our human brains.
Although the design of social media, internet platforms, apps, and other sources for information, collaboration, and networking seamlessly onboard and hook customers, they fall short of making our feeds seamless, clean, and tailored to our needs. To combat this onslaught of information, it is extremely important that we establish certain loops from our end to manage the chaos and gain more control over the information floating towards us in the ether of the internet.
One habit I have adopted to ease the burden of information overload and improve the quality of information is to schedule an information-clearing session in my calendar at least once every few months. During this session, I go through the platforms I use to get my information and curate where the information is coming from. For example, I head to YouTube and unfollow all the unwanted subscriptions. Over the years, we have accumulated numerous subscriptions that may no longer interest us. We often follow or subscribe to sources on a whim but fail to take the time to unsubscribe, allowing them to continue flooding us with information daily. This simple clearance action across my news sources, people/accounts I follow, groups I am part of, and things I am subscribed to changes the way my feed operates and generates information more useful for me.
So, take some simple time out to manage your information sources online with a little bit of intention. It will free up your mind and make your feed more useful, tolerable, and in sync with your priorities.