April 23, 2025
Lately, I’ve been feeling it, and I know I’m not alone. The overwhelm. The fatigue. The creeping sense that every day is an endless scroll of choices, content, expectations, and shallow messaging. A few weeks ago, I stepped away with the Whiteboard team to confront this head-on. We gathered to ask ourselves four questions:
- What noise are we unintentionally adding to the world, and how can we choose clarity instead?
- What do we want people to feel and carry with them after they experience our work?
- How can we create work that helps people pause, not just scroll past?
- How can we, as a team, create space for shared clarity so we build work that matters together?
What followed was a day of renewed vision and energy for the work in front of us.
The Overload We’re All Living In
The overload is everywhere and unless we’re intentional, we risk becoming part of it. But if we choose, we can do something different. We can create work that rises above the noise — work that makes meaning.
We identified four forces that are pressing in on us every day:
Information Overload
There is simply too much content. From notifications and news alerts to social media feeds and non-stop advertising, our brains are flooded with input. Instead of feeling informed, we feel exhausted and skeptical.
It’s a feeling we all know. You open your phone to check one email and 10-minutes later you’re neck-deep in Slack messages, trending news, sponsored Instagram posts, and a group text trying to decide on dinner.
Some of the world’s most influential platforms are purposely designed for the overload. Case in point:
- X is designed to flood you with voices, opinions, memes, and hot takes that are often more confusing than clarifying.
- YouTube’s homepage features dozens of algorithmically selected thumbnails, headlines, and autoplay content that make it hard to focus or decide.
- Your email inbox is jam packed with email marketing that features promotions, newsletters, and flash sales where well-crafted messages get buried.
No wonder people tune out. Skepticism rises and trust declines. It’s not that people aren’t paying attention, it’s that their attention is being pulled in too many directions.
Choice Overload
Every decision, big or small, now comes with infinite options. What to watch, what to buy, where to go, what to believe. Instead of feeling empowered, we feel paralyzed and regretful.
We’ve all spent 30-minutes scrolling on Netflix and then give up. Or you’re shopping for running shoes and end up comparing 48 nearly identical options before walking away with none.
Again, it’s by design:
- Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, [Insert your streaming service of choice], are designed to promote “infinite scroll syndrome” or “zombie scrolling” which refers to the compulsive habit of mindlessly scrolling through online content without a specific purpose or destination.
- Amazon will feature 500+ versions of the same product with varying prices, reviews, and delivery options.
- Spotify (which is my favorite app) promotes daily mixes, discover weekly, new releases, friend activity—it’s music paralysis.
The decision fatigue is real. Brands blend together. People avoid making a choice altogether or return to the most recognizable, low-effort default.
Expectation Overload
As consumers, we’re expected to create, engage, respond, and perform at all times. Always on, connected. Instead of feeling inspired, we feel burned out and stretched thin.
Whether it be answering emails at 9pm, posting on social media to “stay relevant,” create content, stay inspired, keep learning, and still be present for your family, your team, and your life. It’s easy to give in to these expectations.
We observe (or feel) these pressures all of the time:
- Creator culture holds the constant pressure to post, stay on trend, and outperform yesterday’s engagement.
- Workplace Slack culture makes team members feel guilty for not replying instantly, even after hours.
- For founders or marketers, they’re expected to be visionaries, managers, brand builders, and content creators—all at once.
The Result: Burnout. Cynicism. Resentment.
And the worst of all, we disengage or go through the motions with no creative energy left.
Meaning Overload (or Lack Thereof)
Even with all the noise, much of it feels hollow. Shallow trends, clickbait headlines, empty branding. Instead of feeling connection, we feel a trust deficit and a hunger for something real.
At the intersection of these forces, people are not looking for more — they are looking for meaning.
You scroll through polished brand campaigns and influencer post that all sound the same, high-production, low-substance. Everything looks good, but nothing feels real.
We feel this when we experience:
- Brand social posts with no soul: “Happy National Sandwich Day!” says a fintech company, for no clear reason.
- Fast-branding on social media: Brands jumping on trends without aligning them to their values or purpose.
- Corporate mission statements that say “we care deeply about innovation and excellence” without backing it up.
You know when the distrust grows and loyalty erodes. We crave brands and creators that stand for something — and follow through on it.
And this is the invitation before us all.
The Rebuttal to the Overload
The world moves fast.
Faster than we can think, decide, or create with intention.
We’re told to keep up. To stay visible. To stay relevant.
But if we’re honest — all that noise doesn’t make us better.
It just makes us tired.
The Overload Era thrives on immediacy, urgency, and distraction.
But the antidote isn’t better hacks or faster tools.
It’s something older. Something slower. Something deeper.
It’s a long obedience in the same direction.
In the face of nonstop input and instant gratification, meaningful work calls for a different posture — one marked by patience, purpose, and clarity.
In a world obsessed with the next thing, meaningful work demands staying with the right thing.
Where overload demands speed, meaning asks for stillness.
Where overload rewards reaction, meaning grows from reflection.
Where overload favors volume, meaning comes from depth.
This kind of creative life doesn’t chase trends.
It doesn't ride the algorithm.
It doesn't look like hustle.
It looks like showing up, again and again, for the work that matters.
It looks like asking the same hard questions until you find better answers.
It looks like being willing to build something slow — something real — when the world tells you to go faster.
We fight overload not by doing more, but by doing less with greater conviction.
By creating work that’s not just seen, but felt.
Not just consumed, but remembered.
So if you feel the pull to keep producing, to keep up, to keep spinning — pause.
Recenter.
Choose clarity over chaos.
Choose depth over distraction.
Choose the long road.
Because in a world that forgets fast, faithfulness is radical.
And meaning is still the most powerful thing we can make.
