Info Overload = Crazy Town

Søren Kierkegaard warned of psychological fragmentation. He argued that overwhelming information could induce a form of collective insanity, where individuals lose critical thinking capabilities as well as their fundamental sense of self. The constant barrage of external stimuli threatens personal "interiority," transforming society into a metaphorical "madhouse" where depth of understanding is sacrificed for breadth and mass of consumption. Sound familiar?

In our hyper-connected age, information has become both our most abundant resource and our greatest challenge. Philosophers like Byung-Chul Han and Søren Kierkegaard illuminate our critical crisis: we are consuming unprecedented amounts of data while simultaneously losing our capacity to make sense of the world.

Modern information ecosystems, driven by social media algorithms, prioritize attention over truth. These platforms fragment our understanding, creating isolated echo chambers where individuals curate personalized narratives that bear little resemblance to shared reality. The result is not just information overload, but a profound breakdown in collective comprehension.

Kierkegaard's warning? We risk becoming passive consumers, our inner lives colonized by external noise. The constant stream of information threatens not just our societal understanding, but our fundamental sense of self.

The most insidious consequence is not misinformation, but the erosion of our ability to meaningfully dialogue, even with ourselves. When we lose common ground—shared definitions, baseline assumptions, and respect for truth—disagreement becomes impossible. Dialogue gives way to tribal posturing, and the risk of resolving conflicts through force increases.

Power in this new landscape is not about controlling physical resources, but manipulating information streams. Those who can shape narratives and predict behavioral patterns wield unprecedented influence, often without individuals even recognizing the manipulation.

Ultimately, we face a critical challenge: reclaim our collective ability to understand, to listen, and to find common ground in an era of infinite, fragmented information… Or? Well, (Orwell, get it?) …

Here it is: humans rely on community and on reliable connections to the people or the things that matter to them. Not a single one of us could have survived without the help of someone along the way. Not many of us would survive a total social collapse. When bonds of the collective break, things can and will get messy. I’m not sure this has a happy ending.

As always, nothin’ to do here. I’m just calling it as I sees it. Keep your eyes open... but for beauty, too.