The Information Age ushered in a new era, allowing research, advice, opinions (welcome or not) to be shared across the world. In 2025, it’s easier than ever to access this plethora of combined knowledge through the internet. But what happens when it all gets a bit too much, and how can we consume information responsibly?
The Hamster Wheel of Opinions
By now, most of you will know what misinformation is. However, this isn’t what I’m referring to when I mention ‘consuming information responsibly.’ I don’t want to address the quality of the information we encounter here. I want to address the sheer quantity of it and how it is making everyday decision-making borderline impossible.
To show what I mean, I’ll give an example from a recent decision I tried to make. I was researching which vitamins would help improve sleep, and naturally decided to get Google to assist me. In this instance, there wasn’t any medical issue that required seeing a doctor, I simply wanted to find a supplement that would boost the quality of my sleep. The problem I encountered was that the internet was far too helpful. It provided a long list of different supplements I could use. That was great. I researched the side effects of all the supplements. Several research papers noted no negative side effects from Supplement A. Several others concluded that long-term use of A could cause liver damage, and instead recommended B. I found articles and posts from people claiming that Supplement B ruined their lives, and that they wished they’d stuck to C and D instead. One paper discovered possible severe side effects from C and … well, you get the idea. It’s a hamster wheel of conflicting opinions.
The upshot of this is that I decided it’s probably safer not to take any supplements. Herein lies my point. It’s not that the internet is generally terrible at medical advice, though it can be that, too. Rather, the danger of having all this information at your fingertips is that it causes inaction or decision paralysis, where you decide that the best course of action is to do nothing at all. This kind of information overload has a name — media fatigue. This is the result of being exposed to so much information that you become utterly overwhelmed, and decision paralysis is one notable side-effect that has become more prevalent.
Afraid to Trust Ourselves
I was unable to find statistics for how often the average person consults the internet before making simple and complex decisions, such as what to name one’s cat or about medical matters. But I did find a source claiming that 50 million Brits asked Dr. Google about their symptoms in 2022. This has surely increased since then, and I suspect that it’s not only medical matters that we’re bringing to the omniscient World Wide Web. My evidence is in the countless Reddit threads, the Quora posts and Mumsnet enquiries — How many calories should I be eating? Should I let my 12-year-old go shopping with her friends? Instead of relying on our judgment (however flawed) to make key decisions, we are increasingly turning to the internet for answers to our questions.
It’s rarely possible to get a straight answer from the combined opinions of twenty, fifty or more well-meaning average Joes and Janes, or the inevitable keyboard warriors. Instead of solving your problems, the internet can exacerbate them by providing too many possible options and their downsides. Imagine attempting to decide which party to vote for and finding countless articles preaching the virtues of all the parties. How is one meant to decide between candidates that appear equally brilliant? Conversely, if you find a group of articles telling you how terrible all the parties are, how does one choose the lesser evil?
A survey of 4,135 adults by the Office for National Statistics found that 44 per cent of respondents had ‘little to no confidence in their ability to participate in politics.’ Is it any wonder, given the overwhelming truckload of advice and opinions transported through print and social media? For sanity’s sake, it may be better to stay out of it all completely lest you single-handedly ruin the country by throwing your two cents into the mix.
Start Limiting Your Info Intake
We, as a society, seem to have shifted from using our gut instinct to getting others to decide for us. Staying informed is important, but it’s equally vital that we don’t disable our ability to think for ourselves.
The answer is obvious: start limiting your info intake. If you must seek support for a decision, use fewer and varying sources for a more balanced overview. When voting, for example, you could look for advice from non-partisan sources that include both left-leaning and right-leaning viewpoints. If you merely copy others, the decision is not properly yours. Aim to consult your own judgment first, rather than head straight to a forum, or seek the advice of a professional if the issue is complex.
Remembering that others aren’t perfect can help. While getting a range of opinions can be useful, the risk of burning out and becoming indifferent is high when you try to absorb everyone’s point of view. That includes this article! You’re currently reading my opinion on why you should limit your info intake. And while I’ve done all I can to provide you with good advice, I’m still only human. So take this article with a pinch of salt and trust your instincts.
The message I hope has come across is that we are quite capable of making our own decisions. And while it pays to be well-informed, it’s possible to overdo it. If you need professional advice, seek it. Otherwise, trust yourself and accept that you’ll probably mess up in the process. We all do. Getting things wrong is a natural part of life and being human. But at least it’ll be your own mistake that hopefully teaches you a valuable lesson. And let’s face it, anything is better than complete inaction.
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