The Illusion of Knowledge: Why More Information Is Making Us Dumber

Hey, how was your week?

Mine was... revealing. I've been thinking a lot about something I don't talk about much: my relationship with information. And how it nearly broke me.

Last week, we discussed critical thinking and why we should be questioning what we're told. 

But here's what I realized: before we can think critically, we have to admit something uncomfortable.

We're drowning in information and starving for understanding.

I know because I've been there, and I'm slowly recovering.

I'M A RECOVERING INFORMATION ADDICT

It started with 9/11. 

For months, I couldn't bring myself to turn off the TV. BBC, CNN, MSNBC, or FOX, it didn't matter. I thought I wanted more information, but what I really wanted was to know. Every update felt urgent. Every headline promised clarity. I even tried putting a second TV in the bedroom. My wife put an end to that fast.

But I was hooked. The endless looping footage, the talking heads, the same story spun a hundred different ways. Then it was the political debates. Different angles, same emptiness. Then came the onslaught of AI.

50 new apps to try every day, promising the world. 10 emails a day offering to automate my entire business without even knowing what I do.

I kept watching, thinking I was learning something. But all I was really doing was feeding the noise in my head.

That's when it hit me, it wasn't information anymore. It was hype and entertainment posing as knowledge.

It was all bullshit.

The scariest part wasn't the headlines. It was what they did to me.

I lost my ability to sit with not knowing. I developed a severe case of FOMO.

Silence felt unbearable. I needed the noise. It gave me a false sense of control, like I could make sense of chaos by collecting more of it.

But the more I consumed, the less I trusted what I heard, and worse, the less I trusted my own ability to think for myself.

Information had stopped informing me. It was shaping me.

What I thought was being "informed" was really dependence. Information had become my sedative, something to take the edge off the anxiety of not knowing.

I wasn't learning anymore. I was numbing out.

WHAT OVERLOAD STEALS

Information overload doesn't just waste time; it also hinders productivity. It wears down your soul. It steals your focus from what matters and gives it to whatever screams the loudest.

It changes us in three ways:

Curiosity collapses into certainty. When the feed never ends, we start looking for things that confirm what we already think. We stop exploring.

Memory loses its spine. We collect pieces but never see the picture. The mind turns into a junk drawer, full but useless.

Judgment atrophies. Repetition starts to feel like the truth. Outrage feels like clarity. Volume replaces value.

We don't just become less informed, we become overconfident. And false confidence is far more dangerous than ignorance.

INFORMATION VS. UNDERSTANDING

Information is the fast food of the mind. It's easy, fast, and addictive. It fills you for a moment, but it doesn't nourish.

Understanding is more like a home-cooked meal. It takes time, patience, and care, but it sticks with you.

Information is horizontal, endless dots scattered across the surface.

Understanding is vertical; it connects those dots into something that makes sense.

Information gives answers (sometimes right, and sometimes wrong). Understanding asks better questions. That's where intelligence turns into wisdom.

Think about the last time something really clicked for you. It probably happened in a quiet moment, a walk, a shower, or a stare out the window. Not during a scroll or a thread.

Understanding shows up when we stop chasing it.

THE SPEED TRAP

We've been trained to worship speed. Faster downloads, faster replies, faster opinions. But our brains aren't built for that kind of pace.

The mind has a metabolism. When you push ideas through too quickly, nothing digests.

Reflection is how we make sense of what we take in. Without it, information just passes through; no nutrients are absorbed. You might feel full, but you're starving for meaning.

Speed also makes us unfair. We react before we think. We share before we check. We take sides before we even understand what we're defending.

The algorithm loves that. Wisdom doesn't.

UNDERSTANDING IS A CRAFT

If we treated understanding like a craft instead of a side effect, we'd all get better at it:

Start with humility. "I might be wrong" is one of the smartest sentences you can say. My favorite line is "I don't know what I don't know."

Question motives. Who benefits if you believe this? Follow the incentives, not just the headlines. I often search for the owner of the website that I'm researching.

Read against yourself. If you only read people who agree with you, you're not learning, you’re echoing.

Protect quiet time. Thinking needs space. Boredom is a feature, not a flaw.

THE HUMAN ADVANTAGE

In a world run by algorithms, our edge isn't speed or storage, it's meaning.

Machines can process data, but they can't feel what it means. They can't care. That's still our job.

Understanding is what keeps us human. It's what lets us connect, discern, and care about truth, not just collect it. It's how we turn facts into wisdom and information into action that actually matters. 

A DIFFERENT METRIC

Here's the question I ask myself now: What changed in me because of what I learned?

If the answer is "nothing," I didn't understand it; I just consumed it.

So yes, I'm still in recovery. Not from technology or the news, but from the need to always know. These days, I'm choosing slower, truer, deeper. Some days I fail. Most days, I try again.

We're drowning in information, but we're not powerless. We can still choose meaning over noise, curiosity over certainty, and humility over heat.

Real understanding transforms you. That's how you know it's real.

So I'll ask you: What actually changed in you this week because of something you learned?

If nothing changed, you didn't understand it, you just consumed it.

Drop a comment. I'd love to hear your story.

I read and respond to everyone.

More on thinking clearly in a noisy world next week.

For deeper dives on this topic, follow our long-form essays on: 🔗 Medium | Substack

Visit Our Website | Or Book a 1:1 Call | BOOK STRATEGY CALL

Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways Digital Content Creators can help you:

1. Book Production: Our expert team ensures your book is professional, attractive, and competitive. We handle everything from design to distribution, delivering on time and within budget. With rapid turnaround and access to major sales platforms, DCC transforms your manuscript into a market-ready masterpiece. Let us bring your vision to life!

2. eLearning Course Development: Turn your expertise into powerful eLearning courses that scale your business and generate passive income. Our instructional and graphic designers convert your knowledge into engaging, interactive courses. We create custom courses that resonate with learners and deliver learning outcomes. Let DCC bring your knowledge to life!

3. Social Content OS: We install a customized Human2AI Marketing Operating System for content creation and post publishing, scaling your influence across multiple channels. Plan, generate, edit, repurpose, and publish content at record speeds. Let our content machine 10x your output so you can focus on networking, relationships, and other areas of your business.