Ukraine, and the collapse of information

This week has been another of many reminders in recent years that our brains have not been built to manage the influx of information that the internet provides. From the standpoint of history, the experience of having real-time updates about every terrible thing happening in the world is very new.

How should we respond to this crisis when it feels so intimate? How do we continue to go about our days when the world feels like it’s on fire? Unlike our ancestors, we don’t have the luxury of waiting on war updates, compartmentalizing our mental space because we only have so many sources of information. Doomscrollling is the true modern side hustle: in between meetings, we see news updates on Twitter; colleagues posting about their safety on LinkedIn.

The uncomfortable truth is that there is no perfect answer to information collapse. The world still needs to go on as best it can. We still have to address the mini crises we may have right in front of us before we worry about the global ones. All we can do is be intentional about setting our own boundaries around information intake—while making sure we don’t turn our backs on what’s going on in the world all together.

Importantly, as managers, we should recognize the mental fog, be vulnerable about how we’re experiencing it ourselves. Talking openly about shared experiences is particularly important during moments like this (just like it was after the start of the pandemic, or after the January 6 attack on the Capitol building). Expecting endless productivity during moments of shared trauma is both unrealistic and detrimental to team health. Let’s give our employees a break.