Definition:
Infoxication is a word that comes to refer to the excess or overload of information, which prevents delving into the topics to be addressed.
What is infoxication?
Infoxication has its origin in the English term of “overload information”. The term has its use, above all, in the digital world.
It is about the search for information and the need to be constantly updated. However, it is not always managed in a correct way and in most cases it is an overload of information for people.
Infoxication has consequences in a decrease in the ability to concentrate or giving rise to situations of stress or anxiety.
What is the origin?
The origin dates back to 1999. The term was created by Alfons Cornellá, founder of the new trends consultancy Institute of the Next.
The term is hopelessly linked to the massive arrival of blogs and social networks. The popularization of them and the massive use of the Internet has made the overload of information increasing.
We cannot forget that the democratization of access to information and the possibility of generating contenthave helped to saturate the different media available to users.
What are the causes of infoxication?
There are several reasons why a person may be overwhelmed by the amount of information they can receive over the course of a day. The most common causes are:
- Information overload. Every day we are invaded by information that comes to us from multiple sides, both from social networks and media, radio, newsletters … If the information is not filtered correctly or you do not have a firm criterion, it is very difficult to distinguish what adds value or not. All this will cause overwhelm.
- Search through the internet. Every time millions of searches are searched and made through the internet. But this can become a double-edged sword, on the one hand the democratization of the search for information and on the other hand the possibility of finding false information or fake news.
