🍃Navigating the digital tsunami
VERTIGO 🍃#3 Overwhelming data: strategies for balance and clarity
Menu of this edition⌛VERTIGO OF THE WEEK - Data Overload - part 1
💚 EMOHACKS - 5 steps for your Digital Life: the CODEC way
⚖️COACHING STORIES - Overwhelmed? Let’s Simplify. 🌟
🗞️ BREAKING NEWS / HOT LINKS - A coupon & a vertigo Video!
⌛VERTIGO OF THE WEEK
You can’t escape it.
The digital tsunami eats away 3 of our most precious resources: time, physical matter & social capital.
TIME
In the constant stream of data, it’s estimated that over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every day globally.
The average number of digital data interactions per day increases from 298 in 2010 to close to five thousand interactions today per day per connected person.
Time is sanity.
Katja Hollaar points that “The sheer volume of mindless content bombardment not only numbs our senses but erodes our ability to discern valuable information.” And adds that:
“As we grapple with the deluge of generated garbage and incessant ads, the psychological toll of this trend looms like a dark cloud over our digital existence.”
Physical matter
Guillaume Pitron in his book “The Dark Cloud: The Hidden Costs of the Digital World” followed the journey of a like 👍 throughout the world. A fascinating journey which depends on 3 infrastructure nods:
500 huge cables which, when added together, run 1.3 million km around the world.
9900 Sattelittes over our heads, and growing.
And lots of datacenters... Among which hyperscale datacenters (exceeding 5,000 servers and 10,000 square feet). Only a few of them existed 15 years ago. They surpassed the thousand mark in early 2024, doubling their capacity in just four years, with forecasts predicting another doubling in the next four years.
Pitron says we can see them. Touch them. Smell them. Internet tastes like salt.
All these nods leave a footprint. They have a cost. “As we chase passive income and engage in mindless scrolling, we unwittingly contribute to an environmental catastrophe.” continues Katja.
The digital tsunami is nothing but virtual. Our data consumption is made of extracted materials, cooling water & around 500TeraWh worth of electricity.
In a few weeks (part 2), I will detail the irony of the necessary ecological transition: so far, the only remedy to lower emissions is a higher material extraction. Low emission, high material.
SOCIAL CAPITAL
Data exposes us to the fake news & to the wrong news.
“Brandolini’s Law exposes a significant challenge of our time. We’re caught in a tug-of-war between convenience and truth, simplicity and complexity. It urges us to examine the information we consume and produce critically, understanding that the ease of creating misinformation can have profound impacts on our society.”
It’s a lot to process. With the risk of shutting us down in an echo chamber.
In his great book What’s our problem, Tim Urban says 2 fascinating things about them:
In an Echo Chamber, falling in line with the rest of the group is socially rewarded
Conviction is social currency in an Echo Chamber. If you feel more convinced than ever about what your believe in, maybe you are stuck!
More data, less time.
More data, more material and more energy.
More data, more temptation to fall in line.
More data, less freedom?
💡 In the relentless flood of digital noise, are you aware of the time, physical resources, and social integrity your digital life costs you?💚 EMOHACKS
What can you do about it?
You want a Codec.
A codec is a computer program that compresses data (= makes it use less space) so it can be sent or stored, and decompresses it (= returns it to its original form) so it can be seen or used.
Compress your digital content.
Decompress your life.🌐
1-Curate 📚
10000 websites created everyhour and AI now adding to the lot.
You need a process.
What do you read, hear, view? Start listing it all. Newsletter, youtube channels, posts, people. Be aware of it.
One week. Two weeks. Detect patterns.
What feels right.
What has value.
Then walk these 3 steps (confession: this is inspired by Marie Kondo’s method 🧹 )
Focus on what you want to keep
Get rid of what’s easy first, sentimental last.
Pick up each content one at a time, and ask yourself quietly, “Does this spark joy?”
Trust the process.
2-Oxygenate: Embrace the outdoors.🌿
Disconnect 📴: Break away from screens and social media. Create space to breathe and clear your mind. Airplane mode.
Physically connect with nature 🌳: Spend time with your feet on the grass or touching a tree. It’s grounding and invigorating.
Reevaluate your meetings: Assess if your presence truly adds value. Limit meetings to essential ones, giving yourself room to breathe and focus. Ground rule: 30 minutes. Beyond that, ask yourself: why?
3-Delegate 🤝
A few years ago, as one of the Médecins Sans Frontières finance directors, I was unhappy with how a policy review was ongoing. I hesitated 6 months because I did not have the time to go through all the material I had accumulated. Trust and an intern later, the job was done. I issued a position paper backed by a solid bibliographical review of 30 articles.
I never was as efficient as when I had someone read for me.
Stop pretending you’ll read it all. Delegate.
4-Elevate 🚀
Instead of getting swept away by every digital wave, pause and observe. Notice the triggers and how they affect you without immediate reaction.
Practicing equanimity means not attaching yourself to fleeting sensations. Don't stack suffering upon suffering. Understand that sensations are impermanent; they come and go.
Sometimes you just can’t take it all in.
Just let it go…
5-Concentrate 🎯
”One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean s..t”.
Jack Palance said it all"!
Feeling overwhelmed can come from chasing too many rabbits.
💡 Amidst overwhelming workload, having the one thing in mind makes the difference. Do YOU have it in mind?⚖️COACHING STORIES - Overwhelmed? Let’s Simplify. 🌟
“Today I thought we could discuss this colleague that drives me crazy. But there’s also this critical interview next week. And things being as stressful as they are at work, I’m really stressed at home and would like help”.
A very common thing that happens during sessions is clients coming with their head full.
Full of conflicting energies.
Full of content.
Full of details.
Full of issues.
Sometimes they won’t even know why they’re here.
“Tell me what’s going on”. 🔊
I let them vent at first.
If they are stuck in their own head, I usually stop them after a few minutes.
“I hear you mentionning very different aspects. This interview, this colleague, your work life balance. What’s the most critical one to adress?” 🎯
It forces them to narrow it down.
Then define a precise objective. 📋
Then start with where they are and what they have done so far.
Then define options and obstacles. 🛤️
Then establish concrete commitments. ✅
That’s how you go from mental noise to getting in action.
That’s the GROW framework, created by late John Whitmore, which I’ve used successfully for years.
Book now your free 15 min call to know more! 📞
💡 When overwhelmed with content, information, people & deadlines it can be tough to remember. Remember what really makes a difference, what prevents you to do THAT and where to start. Coaching gets you clarity.🗞️BREAKING NEWS / HOT LINKS
Enjoy your SUMMER COACHING COUPON: with code summer24, 10% OFF on all the boutique!
I am leaving for Rome tomorrow! I’ll be joining the Climate Reality Leadership Corps and training with former US Vice President Al Gore, thought leaders, scientists, and climate experts in Rome. More to come next week on linkedin!
Enjoy this 3 minute extract from the legendary movie City Slickers, with Jack Palance explaining to Billy Cristal the importance of the one thing… “That’s what you gotta figure out!”
In a world without CGI, take a moment to appreciate the fake background as these great actors pretend to be on moving horses..
PS: Have you taken this 8 question test? You’ll get a free personnalized feedback?
Or even better, why don’t we have a chat? I’d love for you to be listened to like never before.
Last thing, I would not want you to leave without a good playlist you can listen to while reading or just chilling.