Infobesity is a word created by James Morris of the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science.
Even though it’s a “made up” word, infobesity, the tendency to keep reading, visiting social media, and scanning the internet for more, more, and more information is a very real thing.
Infobesity is caused by FOMO, the Fear Of Missing OUT.
Life Informs Writing
I guess I’m talking about this today because I’ve been mostly away since the beginning of March. Currently, I’m using a hot spot created by my cell phone to write this post. I have one eye on the data meter to make sure I don’t go over my allotted gigabytes and the other eye on the laptop monitor screen.
I’ve been suffering from FOMO for almost 3 weeks. Yikes. It really is a real thing!
If you’re drowning in digital data? Scared by social media? Finding internet life a big time suck, and suffering from FOMO, just know you’re not alone.
Many internet users are overwhelmed by the never-ending flood of information—especially if you find yourself spending a lot of time on social media.
Multitasking online—swiftly going back and forth from one task to another and another—can cause a serious drop in your productivity. That’s called information fatigue syndrome. I definitely feel that sometimes.
What To Do
If you’re scared you’ll miss out on something essential to your life, you probably need to take command of the situation before it takes command of you.
1. Change to focusing on one thing at a time, rather than trying to multitask. You’ll accomplish more, and what you do will probably be correct than error-ridden.
2. Decide what’s important and refuse to look at information that doesn’t help you move forward with your goals.
3. Follow only those people and websites that support your goals, and make that your policy about subscribing to newsletters, blogs, etc.
4. If you need to do something important—like write a book or a job proposal—silence your cell phone alerts and notifications and do the same with any alerts and notifications on your computer.
5. Overcome the idea that you have to be wired in 24/7. Give your brain a break and disconnect every evening and on weekends. At least pick one da
y to be offline.
6. Read something that will sweep you away and relax you. Reading lowers blood pressure and is good for the brain in many ways.
Why not try one of my books or one of the many Authors Billboard collections? You can find my books at my Amazon Author Page. You can find the Author Billboard box sets on the main page.
One last thing, and it’s so important.
Please be sure to check out our Authors’ Billboard Monthly Contests for free ebooks, gift cards, and paperbacks.
March is going to offer another Rafflecopter, so don’t miss out!
Post Script from Joan
Embrace your life and everyone in it. Never take the ones you love for granted.
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Joan Reeves—Keeping Romance Alive…One Sexy Book at a Time—is a NY Times and USA Today bestselling author of Contemporary Romance. From Romantic Comedy to Romantic Thriller, all of her books have the same premise: “It’s never too late to live happily ever after.” Joan lives her happily-ever-after with her hero, her husband, in the Lone Star State. They divide their time between a book-cluttered home in Houston and a quiet house in the Texas Hill Country where they sit on the porch, stare at the big night sky, and listen to the coyotes howl. Sign up for Joan’s Mailing List and be the first to know about new books and giveaways.
Loved this post – great job, Joan! xoxo
Thanks, Sue. Took me all day to get a signal strong enough to create a hot spot! How did we live before WiFi? *LOL*