I spent the majority of this week at a conference and in dinners and networking events, and as a result, I have fallen woefully behind my regular catching up on news and reading. Opening my RSS reader to see 400 unread articles was a little overwhelming, but it gave me an opportunity to reflect on what I do really need to know. I’m insatiably curious, meaning I constantly seek new information and something to learn. Oftentimes, this is to the detriment of my ability to focus or even retain the information I consume. But it is how I am wired and I expect this is not uncommon. How do I strike a healthy balance between feeding this craving for novelty and maintaining sanity?

There are several adjustments I’ve made to my information diet. First, I quit all social media. I did not feel like I was getting anything worthwhile from it. With the growing amount of ads and algorithmic junk, I just decided to leave it altogether. If you’re on the fence about this, the research overwhelmingly supports it. But you already know that.

Second, I used to read news (from online newspapers) religiously, thinking I needed to be on top of everything that’s happening everywhere. This, of course, is a fallacy, and being overwhelmed with news does not mean you’re necessarily better informed or positioned to make better decisions. The only source of general news I consume these days is a news agency in my country, akin to Reuters or AP, and I only subscribe to domestic and worldwide headlines. They usually run just a few articles per day, and chances are, if something is really important, I’ll see it.

As a result, I know less about what happens around me, and that’s a good thing. It’s ridiculous to think you could know about everything happening in the world, even if you narrow it to specific domains. The modern internet has instilled the fear of missing out in many of us, driving us to keep scrolling infinitely in one app or the other. The same applies to our personal lives: you might feel like you’re not a good friend or family member if you’re not caught up on the latest photos from their weekend retreat.

Except it’s all nonsense. If some impactful world events are happening, you’re likely going to learn about them one way or the other. There’s no prize for being the first. There are notable exceptions, such as extreme weather events or public safety announcements, but other than that, you’ll be fine. Your friends and family will appreciate you reaching out, or even better, talking to them in person about their weekend retreat.

It’s not just about knowing what’s happening. There’s also pressure to have an opinion on everything that’s happening, and ideally express it loudly and widely. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have opinions at all - you’d probably be a very boring person if you didn’t. It’s perfectly fine to have opinions, it’s even perfectly fine to have strong opinions. But it’s also perfectly fine not to have an opinion on a lot of things. You know what’s worse than not having an opinion? Having a really bad or ill-informed opinion. The world as a whole has gotten so complex and so difficult to truly understand that the actual reasonable stance to have in a lot of cases is: I’m not sure, or I don’t know enough. Are you an expert? Have you spent years learning this? Then sure, I want to hear it. Did you just skim a few articles and some Twitter hot takes? Maybe keep it to yourself.

If you’re anything like me, you don’t need to stress about staying informed as much as you do. Scale down. Go narrow and deep instead of wide and shallow. Focus on one or two topics that genuinely interest you and let go of the rest. Guard your attention - not just from social media and ad tech, but from your own information hunger. You don’t need the minutiae of some startup’s funding round or elections in a small country halfway around the world.