News flash. There is a shortage of eggs. You should be eating more eggs. You’re eating too much meat. Don’t switch to soy though, or you will die. The drought situation in California is worsening. No climate change deal has been signed. Your deodorant is killing you. Oh, you use the natural kind? That’s nice, but it will kill you anyway – probably immediately. Another black person was unjustifiably killed by a cop. You shouldn’t use fluoride. Make sure you use fluoride or your teeth will decay. Your tooth decay will shorten your life, so use fluoride or you will die. But if you use fluoride, you will also die. A four-year-old Florida boy is having a forced circumcision. You’re teaching your child to read too soon. Haven’t you taught your child to read yet? S/he child will be behind forever and will not be able to properly perform on all the tests that are required in school. You’re either consuming too little or too much turmeric. There are a bunch of malnourished Shih Tzus in New York. The Middle East is still in perpetual turmoil. Ukraine is still a war zone. A boat of migrants has capsized in the Mediterranean. 450 troops are being sent back to Iraq. And at the end of this list, also add every tidbit of information that you have acquired on social media in the last day.

I can’t be the only person, who in the span of about fifteen minutes of checking my “stuff” gets absolutely bombarded with a deluge of information. It’s not all bad of course. There are the positives; new inventions, new pursuits, social projects that give humanity some hope, Kickstarter campaigns that aim to change the world for the better, etc. Whether it’s good news or bad news, the sheer volume of information projecting itself into our minds on a regular basis is horrific. (If this post is overwhelming to you, please put down or step away from your device and proceed as quickly as possible to the nearest dark corner in which you can rock yourself back to a functioning level of stressed. Obviously, you’ll need to return though, because if you don’t, all of those poor malnourished dogs and soy-free vegetarians will only have you to blame for the egg shortage and the chemically-laced deodorant which you are still wearing.)

Frankly, if any one thing kills us first, it will be the constant stress over our impending doom and the weight of carrying all of this data. The strange thing is, we do it to ourselves. There is no requirement to be continuously glued to our phones, computers, and televisions. We do this voluntarily. We crave the drama. We have become so completely desensitized to things that should be stimulating enough in and of themselves by the sheer volume of information that we consume. We can no longer hold a conversation (you know, the old-fashioned kind, where you look at someone while talking and don’t reach for your phone when the conversation lags) without checking that latest ding. The conversation is simply no longer stimulating enough. We need more. Every notification gives us a new morsel of information. We certainly can’t go on without the pivotal information of that news update popping up on our phones or, even more importantly, what our friends and acquaintances are so urgently trying to communicate to us.

In the midst of waiting for the next bit of news, for the next new text, and the next new update – whatever it may be, what is our mental capacity of our physical presence? How much attention are we paying to what is happening where are bodies reside? Are we paying attention to the people around us? Or are we simply there, but only partially? What effect is being constantly distracted having on our relationships?

I am guilty of this obsessive paradigm of mass information. I have a cyclical pattern in which I consume an overabundance of information and then feel as though I need to either hide under a rock or move my family to a mountaintop in the middle of nowhere so we wouldn’t have to be in a realm where we can even access the ceaseless informational reports. Since neither of these options is really feasible, I have to make wading through my non-physical clutter a priority. It must be dealt with, because I am fearful that my kids, friends, and family will have an embedded memory of me always with my face in my phone – you know, for the news. I know how my attitude changes when I am distracted. I am irritable when I’m attempting to do too many things, to listen to too many conversations simultaneously, to answer more than one question at a time. Not only is it irritating, but it’s also not productive. While multitasking all of our relationships, what we are really conveying to our loved ones is that their presence simply isn’t our top priority. Their conversation is not interesting enough. Their games are not fun enough. They simply don’t deserve our full attention.

New information will always be accessible, but these precious moments that we are missing while trying to catch-up on what’s happening where and with whom, are not ever-lasting. You will not always have a chance to sit with your mom and have a cup of tea and just be together. You will not always have an opportunity to listen to how your spouse’s day was. Your child will not always ask you to read them a book, play hide-and-seek, or give them your undivided attention as they dance for you in the living room. These simple moments are fleeting and as they pass all too quickly, we should not be distracted by whatever “important” information is making its way into our phones.

Ding! This ephemeral moment – that’s what is important.

Related Post: 6 Tips for Alleviating Phone Information Overload