Information Overload: “We can learn to concentrate”
FAU psychologist Kyra Göbel explains how we can stay focused despite the flood of information
The ways in which we can set up mental boundaries against the increasing amounts of information we are subjected to is being investigated by Dr. Kyra Göbel from the Chair of Work and Organizational Psychology at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). She has now received the Max Weber Prize from the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities for her research.
Dr. Göbel, your research focuses on something known as the flood of information. Since when have we been flooded with information?
The Internet has a major role to play in this respect. We all strive to work with a specific goal in mind and be distracted as little as possible, especially when we are at work. Digitalization means that we have a considerably greater amount of information at our fingertips and new ways of communicating with each other. This means there are more distractions, where we either stop what we’re doing or are distracted by something or someone else.
Does social media play a role too?
That all depends on how you use your cellphone while you’re working. My research also looks at the learning processes of students, for whom this is a major issue. While studying, you might often think “I’ll just have a quick break” and reach for your phone. You justify it to yourself by saying you need some information about something, like finding out what time it is. But this is rarely the case. What you really want is a little distraction or some emotional reward.
To what extent is the flood of information affecting children?
We all need to learn to deal effectively with the flood of information and no one can do that from the earliest age. You first have to be confronted with it in order to learn how to control how much information you consume. This is the reason why we should be learning media skills as early as possible. Another new aspect is artificial intelligence, which we are increasingly being confronted with. It makes the correct handling of information more important than ever before. For example, we must be able to check facts and evaluate whether a source is credible or not.
What steps can I take if I feel overwhelmed or distracted by too much information?
The good news is that we can all learn to concentrate on one task at a time. It may sound odd at first when I say “Just stop thinking about the thing that was distracting you,” but that’s exactly how it works! An example from our research shows what I mean: In a laboratory study at our Chair, participants were asked to learn a word pair. We then told them to forget one part of the word pair and only concentrate on the other. We discovered that after a certain amount of time, many of the participants were no longer able to remember the part of the word pair they were meant to forget. This is how it can work in our daily lives. Say to yourself at the beginning “This is the task I have to concentrate on right now and I won’t allow myself to be distracted by anything else.” You can combine this with other things to boost your concentration. For example, you can define specific times during which you concentrate fully on the task or move anything that could distract you, such as your smartphone, out of the room.

How do you do it?
I practice what I preach and I try to set these boundaries against everything that distracts me. On the one hand, there are external factors that can cause interruptions, and on the other, I also let myself get distracted. External factors, for example, include people knocking on the door to my office wanting to talk to me. If I know that I have to concentrate on something and don’t want to be interrupted, I hang a “do not disturb” sign on my door. If I distract myself and have the feeling that I can’t concentrate, I try to put distracting objects away at the same time as also trying to visualize actively distancing myself from distractions and the disruptive thoughts that come with them. I imagine that I am pushing everything away with my hands and that I have a bubble around me that only contains thoughts that are relevant to the task I am currently doing.
Further information
Dr. Kyra Göbel
Chair of Work and Organizational Psychology
Phone +49 9131 85-64006
kyra.goebel@fau.de