All of this consumption is made possible by the vastness of the internet. There is an estimated total of about 4.2 billion web pages that call the internet home, with the big four (Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook) sharing about 1.2 million terabytes of that information between them. To make this a little more tangible, a study from the Journal of Interdisciplinary Science Topics found that it would take 2% of the Amazon Rainforest to make the paper to create a printed hard copy of the internet.

Screen shot taken from worldwidewebsize.com on June 18, 2016.

Is it even possible to absorb that amount of information and use it meaningfully? Paul Reber, a professor of Psychology at Northwestern University, says no. He asserts that “there’s this bottleneck coming from our senses into our memory…the information we’re experiencing comes in faster than the memory system can write it all down.” Even though experts estimate that our brain is physically capable of storing a couple petabytes of memory (or one million gigs), the average brain is mentally unable to retain all the information it is exposed to on a daily basis. In fact, we only meaningfully store and use 50% of that daily information according to Dr. Dimitrios Tsivrikos, Consumer and Business Psychologist at University College London.

It’s an intoxicating feeling to know that I have an indispensable source of knowledge at my fingertips that I can use to my advantage anytime, anywhere. But the simple fact that the average person doesn’t have the mental capacity to utilize this invaluable resource to its full potential makes me question its connotations as a driving force of our society and culture — I’ve found that there’s a true devilishness to the way it can alter the inner workings of the mind.

Understanding the Effects

Now that I know the extent to which I’m drowning in information, the next question is: what is all this information doing for me — or rather, doing to me? Some, like Nicholas Carr, the best-selling author of The Shallows, argue that it’s making us stupid. Carr believes that technology and the Internet are instruments of intentional distraction. As they speed up the flow of information, the mind adapts to keep up by hastening cognition, which in turn shortens the attention span. This leaves no time for the mind to meaningfully absorb the information and leads to a frayed cognitive state. Hardly the ideal mental situation in a culture boasting knowledge at your fingertips. I can’t say I disagree with Carr completely, though I wouldn’t say technology is making us stupider, but that technology’s promises of effortlessness is making us complacent.

Diminished Concentration

As a kid, I was able read the Harry Potter series front to back. Now, it’s just as Carr asserts: “The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.” It seems that my infomania has taken a toll on my sense of concentration. I can’t focus on an article for more than a few minutes at a time without checking my phone or opening a new Chrome tab and disappearing into a click hole of links. I have to consciously force myself to finish reading a piece longer than 500 words. I have a habit of scrolling to the end of an article to determine how much more reading I have left, and ultimately to decide if I plan on finishing the article, skimming it, or just moving on. You might be able to relate, considering that, on average, readers are rarely able to complete an entire article. In a study conducted by the Nielsen Norman Group, it was found that:

“…the average page view contained 593 words. So, on average, users will have time to read 28% of the words if they devote all of their time to reading. More realistically, users will read about 20% of the text on the average page.”

That means, if statistics persists, most of you probably won’t make it through this entire article. Don’t worry, I won’t blame you. Today we are plagued by external and internal interruptions. At some point while you’re reading this, you’ll probably receive some sort of mobile notification to pull your focus away (external). Or maybe you’ll lose interest altogether and move on or check your phone and catch up on social media (internal). Let’s face it, you’ll probably end up checking your phone subconsciously on multiple occasions while reading this article, even if you don’t have a clear purpose for using your phone. Don’t believe me? According to Business Insider, an average iPhone user unlocks their phone 80 times per day, while an Android user unlocks theirs 110 times a day, which translates to once every ten minutes or so — for no reason, other than out of habit. To add to that, the average attention span in 2015 was 8.25 seconds — .75 seconds less than a goldfish (9 seconds), probably one of least conscious life forms I can think of.

Judging from these statistics, technology and its constant flux of information are significantly shaping cognitive abilities to function as efficiently and instantly as they do. The resulting mental state is described as chronic distraction.