Information overload by the numbersAre your readers drowning in the deluge?Talk about TMI.Too much incoming … Your readers receive the data equivalent of 174 newspapers a day. How can your message compete?Ouch! Nearly eight out of 10 respondents to an NPR survey said they get headaches, insomnia or eye twitches as a result of information overload. No wonder “wired” means both “connected to the internet” and “high, frantic, unable to concentrate,” writes UK journalist Johann Hari.It’s called multitasking … Add eight hours of work and sleep to information consumption, and that’s nearly 32 hours a day.1 It’s so cute that you think they’re actually reading your release. Best case scenario: They’re looking at the headline while watching “Riverdale”, posting vacation photos to Facebook and asking Alexa to add almond milk to the grocery list.… and it makes it hard for readers to think. Call it “mental Pez,” says BuzzWhack. That’s “to be hit with so much information that it becomes impossible to focus on one thing, so stuff goes from top-of-mind to tip-of-tongue, only to eventually fall out of our head completely.”The cost of TMI: Nearly $1 trillion a year. All that time spent with information could be spent on a little something we call doing our jobs. Information handling costs the U.S. economy $997 billion a year.What’s a communicator to do? Making every message shorter isn’t the answer. Instead, overcome information overload with relevant, interesting, easy-to-read messages. Learn how at Catch Your Readers, my two-day Master Class in May in Denver.PRSA members: Earn 4 APR maintenance points!Register now. “I learned more about writing in two days than in four years of college and six years of practice.”— Samantha Jorgensen, public relations & social media manager, Charles River LabsFacebookTwitterLinkedInWhatsAppTumblrPinterestMorePocketEmailPrint