We Have More Information Than Ever — So Why Do So Many People Feel Drained?

We live in an age defined by information. From the moment we wake up, we are surrounded by all sorts of stimilu telling us what to do, what to prioritize, what to respond to, and what matters. Emails arrive before breakfast. We use metrics to track every fibre of our existence. And let's not get started on social media where streams and streams of slop feeds update endlessly. Gone are the days (for those of you that are old enough to remember this!) where you literally reach the end of the Facebook homepage! Where it told you: 'You're all caught up". Now, there is always something new, something urgent and something demanding attention in some shape or form. 

Yet, despite this abundance, many people quietly report the same feeling: a sense of exhaustion. A feeling of disconnection, or emptiness that doesn’t quite make sense. More and more people are asking the same question: "How is it possible that my life looks so fucking productive productive and well-structured from the outside, but internally I feel strangely thin, as though days are passing without leaving much behind?" 

I know this feeling very well, because I've lived it. If my live was an Instagram profile, it would look like fucking highlight reel of success—perfectly framed, endlessly productive, and completely silent about how empty it felt behind the screen.

After trying to figure this out with no avail, I asked myself what is it I'm dealing with. Information, yes, but why do all the information feel like nothing? This tension led me to try and figure it out: what is the difference between information and meaning, and what psychology and neuroscience suggest happens when we have plenty of the first, but very little of the second.

Information Tells Us What. Meaning Tells Us Why.

At its core, information is raw material. It consists of data, facts, instructions, numbers, and words. Meaning, on the other hand, is not contained in the data itself. It reveals itself when information is interpreted, connected with other pieces of information, and placed into context. A list of numbers is just data until it becomes a phone number that belongs to someone important. Words printed on a page are just symbols until they form a story that resonates. As philosopher Daniel Robinson once pointed out, you could count every word in Shakespeare’s work, but that would tell you nothing about the meaning of King Lear. Meaning lives in the story, not in the statistics. The same goes for lives: meaning is found in living and not just being.

Cognitive psychology supports this distinction. Research shows that humans don’t experience life as isolated facts. We experience life in all its glory through patterns, narratives, and significance. Information answers what is happening. Meaning answers why it matters.

When Information Arrives Faster Than Meaning

The modern problem isn’t that we lack meaning. It’s that life moves too quickly for meaning to form from vast oceans of information.

Our brains have limits in that attention and working memory can only hold so much at once. When information arrives continuously, whether it is in the form of emails or  Whatsapp messages or social media notifications — attention fragments. Often to the point where it just becomes a slob of noise. This information is processed just enough to respond, but not enough to integrate or to make it meaningful. 

A large body of research on information overload shows that when the volume or speed of incoming information exceeds our capacity to process it, stress increases and performance declines. A comprehensive review by Arnold and colleagues (2023) found consistent links between information overload, mental fatigue, reduced job satisfaction, and burnout. Decision-making quality also suffers, as people struggle to separate what matters from what is merely loud.

I think of this like food. Information is fast food which is abundant and immediately available. Meaning is like a slow-cooked meal in that it takes time to prepare, time to consume, and time to digest. You can eat all day and still feel undernourished if nothing is properly absorbed. In the same way, we can move through full, busy days and still feel oddly empty if experiences never have time to settle.

Busy Does Not Always Mean Engaged

One of the more surprising insights from the research is that burnout is not simply a function of workload. It is often a function of disconnection. Studies in organizational psychology consistently show that people can tolerate high demands when their work feels significant or aligned with their values. When that sense of meaning is missing, even manageable workloads can feel exhausting. Meaning, in this sense, acts as emotional fuel. Without it, effort becomes heavier and motivation harder to sustain.

Meta-analyses on meaningful work, including work by Allan and colleagues (2019), show strong links between perceived meaning, work engagement, and performance, alongside a clear inverse relationship with burnout. People who experience their work as meaningful report less exhaustion, less cynicism, and greater psychological well-being, even under pressure.

This reframes burnout in an important way. It is not always the result of doing too much. Sometimes it is the result of doing a great deal that does not feel connected to anything that matters deeply.

What Meaning Does to the Brain

Because I'm a doctor, I had to find out what the biology is behind all of this and neuroscience adds another, interesting layer to this picture.

When goals or activities are tied to personal meaning, the brain’s reward systems respond more strongly. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter central to motivation and learning, is released more readily when effort feels purposeful. This makes progress feel more rewarding and makes perseverance to complete a task feel easier.

Meaning also appears to help the brain filter information. Research on purpose and self-regulation suggests that people with a strong sense of meaning show better attentional control and are less reactive to distractions. This means that meaning in reality is some sort of filter of slob. And that is why really nothing feels meaningful when you live in a world where everything competes for attention. It's nothing but an increase in mental noise.

Having purpose has also been shown to have an effect on how we handle stress. Studies on life purpose, including recent work by Burrow et al. (2024), suggest that meaning helps stabilize emotional responses by anchoring attention to longer-term values, reducing the impact of immediate stressors. In simple terms, meaning helps the nervous system stay regulated when life becomes demanding.

When Life Keeps Moving But Nothing Lands

Over time, the absence of meaning shows up in subtle ways. Days blur together and weeks pass quickly but feel indistinct. Like you're literally living (read: surviving) from day to  day. When asked what happened recently, people can list events accurately but struggle to describe how those moments felt. There is activity, but little residue. Life essentially becomes efficient but shallow.nThis is not because life itself lacks meaning, but shows that the space to create meaning is absent. Reflection does not happen under constant urgency and integration does not occur when attention is always being pulled elsewhere.

What Shifted My Perspective

What changed things for me was realizing that meaning doesn’t come from adding more information or using more tools or optimizing life to the bone. No,  it emerges when experiences are given enough time to register (for the lack of a better word).  Information helps us function, there is no doubt about it. But meaning is what helps us feel alive. One moves life forward. The other gives life depth. In a world optimized for speed, choosing to notice this difference felt quietly radical. It reframed how I see performance, motivation, and burnout not as personal failures, but as predictable responses to an environment that delivers information faster than meaning can form.

It came down to this simple mantra that I now live by: Less noise. More signal.
And this is certainly not a solve-all solution, but is merely a way of seeing more clearly what I've been missing all along. By really understanding what is purely information and not adding depth to my life, I am now more aware of signal. 

I will write more on this soon. 

References

1. Robinson, D. N. (2017). The Limits of Information. The New Atlantis, 51 (Winter), 17–24.

   A philosophical exploration of why quantitative information alone cannot capture human meaning, narrative, or lived experience.

2. Arnold, M., Goldschmitt, M., & Rigotti, T. (2023). Dealing with information overload: A comprehensive review. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1122200.

   A large systematic review examining information overload, its cognitive and emotional effects, and its links to burnout, stress, and impaired performance.

3. Allan, B. A., Batz-Barbarich, C., Sterling, H. M., & Tay, L. (2019). Outcomes of meaningful work: A meta-analysis. Journal of Management Studies, 56(3), 500–528.

   A meta-analysis showing strong relationships between meaningful work, engagement, performance, and reduced burnout.

4. Van Wingerden, J., & Van der Stoep, J. (2018). The motivational potential of meaningful work. PLOS ONE, 13(6), e0197599.

   An empirical study demonstrating how meaningful work increases intrinsic motivation, engagement, and performance through strengths use.

5. Greene, R. J., & Barends, E. (n.d.). Meaningful Work Translates to Better Well-Being and Performance. Center for Evidence-Based Management / WorldatWork.

   A synthesis of evidence showing how meaningful work buffers stress, improves well-being, and enhances sustainable performance.

6. Burrow, A. L., Hill, P. L., Stanley, M., & Sumner, R. (2024). The role of purpose in the stress process: A homeostatic account. Journal of Research in Personality, 108, 104444.

   Explores how purpose stabilizes emotional and physiological responses to stress and supports long-term well-being.

7. McDowall, C. (2022). Effective Strategies to Reduce Information Overload in the Workplace. Doctoral dissertation, Walden University.

   Examines how information overload contributes to burnout, reduced motivation, and impaired productivity, particularly in high-demand professions.

8. Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16(2), 250–279.

   A foundational model identifying experienced meaningfulness as a key driver of motivation and performance.

9. Van Wingerden, J., & Poell, R. F. (2019). Meaningful work and resilience. In Meaningful Work in Organizations (pp. 161–181).

   Discusses how meaning acts as a resilience factor that moderates the relationship between stress and burnout.