Information Overload Essay: Analyzing YouTube's News Impact

This essay explores the pervasive issue of information overload, focusing specifically on the impact of news consumption on YouTube. It examines how the easy accessibility of information through various media platforms, including YouTube, has led to an overwhelming amount of content that can ne...Read More

Running head: INFORMATION OVERLOAD
INFORMATION OVERLOAD
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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INFORMATION OVERLOAD
Information through news and other platforms have become very common as well as
necessary these days. It can have multiple positive effects on the people. There are various
forms of media like radio, television and newspaper. The latter forms of media are
responsible for disseminating information. Today people can get latest news as well as
information about current affairs from a glance at the newspaper (Bennett, 2016). With time
new platforms of media has emerged that are also responsible for circulating news such as
YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp and others. The essay aims to discuss the impact
of news overload through one of the social media platform that is YouTube.
With the help of both mass media and print media the circulation of news has become
quite easy. News helps in raising the consciousness of the audience and also spreads
awareness about social evils that are present in the society. However, all the news shown
through the social media are not always correct. Since YouTube has become quite popular
among all ages of people the spread of news as well as information through this platform may
sometimes lead to information overload that are not always understood by many (Smith,
2018). Nowadays mediated information is easily available to almost all the people than at
other times in the history. Infoglut is something that explores the connections between wide-
ranging strategies that makes sense about the information overload as well as the new forms
of control that they enable (Swirski, 2018). Andrejevic however critiques the acceptance of
deconstructive debunker that calls into question the post narrative, comprehension as well as
truth and goes beyond that as well. Too many information are now being circulated through
YouTube that is viewed by a wide spectrum of people (Andrejevic, 2019). However, studies
suggests that sometimes too many information can be confusing as well as frustrating. The
overload of information can also have a massive negative impact on the decision-making of a
person. People need to realise that all the information that is circulated through the social
media is not always correct. Sometimes the information that is circulated through YouTube

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can be considered as an overload of news that often does not make any sense (Rosman et al.,
2019). Wrong information or overload of information can pose a difficulty in analyzing
specific section of the news. This therefore, makes it difficult for the person to make right
solutions as well as decisions. There are some information in YouTube that should not be
accessible to everyone especially children, but it is still accessible that is quite confusing for
the child and gives him a wrong message (Burgess & Green 2018). The above social platform
can have both positive as well as negative impact on the people who are viewing it. It is also
a platform where many people give their opinionated views on a specific topic. However,
these opinions come from a number of people who have different perspectives about the
issue. People with their personal views also sometimes tend to make the information
confusing as well as they misinterpret the news that further has a negative impact on the
people (Burgess & Green 2018). So many information through one platform with different
views can also lead to representation of news that is incomprehensible.
The information overload has now become a cliché as well as a significant problem
that is faced by the modern society. It is impossible to quantify the extent of these
problematic news and its impact on the society as well as its people. It is essential to realise
that news media is passing quickly and with inevitable changes (Lee, Lindsey & Kim2017).
The viral videos through YouTube, innumerable emails, interesting articles on Facebook and
endless tweets on Twitter are all examples of information overload. The viral videos on
YouTube with unhealthy as well as disturbing content makes the brain to function in a way
that is stressful. It starts affecting the thinking pattern of the audience and also prevents them
to make valuable decisions. This further leads to delayed decisions. As discussed earlier
YouTube frequently has many information on the same topic that often leads to
misrepresentation (Berryman & Kavka 2018). It therefore becomes impossible for the people
to pick the right information through this social media platform. News overload is also

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known as information overload. However same news being circulated in all media platforms
manipulates that actual message that should be derived by the audience. YouTube has now
become a primary cause of information overload that makes the information that is being
circulated less authentic as well as fake (Lazer et al., 2018). Absence of essential tools to
organize the information in the social media platform can be one of the reasons for the
manipulation of the information. There are also various ambiguities and contradictions that
are circulated through YouTube. This information overload often leads to negative
consequences such as it lowers the self-confidence of a person, reduces the productivity as
well as challenges the cognitive capacity. Information overload through YouTube further
reduces the peace of mind (Lazer et al., 2018). People therefore has to spend more time in
finding the correct information on a specific topic that further leads to stress as well as
anxiety.
Information overload is now considered to have a negative aspect on the society and
its people. The primary problem is due to the lack of correct information. Though there are
many relevant information in the YouTube however because of the availability of so many
perspectives people find it difficult to get the right access to the information. The problem
also lies in the fact that people now have become very selective regarding the news that they
want to hear and read (Berryman & Kavka 2018). On the other hand the overloaded audience
are less skeptical about the news that are circulated through the social media platform.
According to Jodi Dean the modern period is the era of communication capitalism. She states
that because of this communication will no longer be able to provide its audience with a
critical outside. She further states that too many information on the social platform can lead
to misrepresentation of news and people too will be unable to understand the news that is at
their disposal (Dean, 2020). News now have become a platform to make money therefore
social media platforms like YouTube is used so that information can be manipulated before

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uploading it on the channel. Therefore it is essential for people to understand as well as
differentiate between authentic and unauthentic news. Audience can achieve this by keeping
a disciplined as well as organized mind. One should plan before retrieving the information,
one needs to observe the news continuously. Specific keywords should be used while
searching for an information and people should use sources that are trusted and avoid the
other information that are circulated on YouTube (Phillips, 2016).
Another reason for information overload can be production of new information that is
constantly being created by the agencies. This arises due to the pressure that is created to
compete the other information that is circulated on the social media. Further the content that
is shown on YouTube that is also an example of information overload that weakens the
concentration of the audience that results is poor decision-making. Sometimes the
information overload can be quite dangerous (Zhang et al., 2016). Many contents that are
shown on YouTube are disturbing that may also lead to political riots and hatred towards a
specific religion as well as people. All this is done to make money as people are easily
influenced by these contents and are also sensitive towards those topics. People should realise
that nowadays they are consuming too much unnecessary information that they do not
understand and those information are not even relevant. Though for some time the
information overload can be overwhelming but after a certain point of time the same
information becomes incompressible as well as confusing for the people. It acts as a
hindrance in the thinking pattern of the people (Ferchaud et al., 2018). If it is looked at
theoretically then too many information at the disposal of the audience are good but at the
same time it does more harm. When people are unable to understand too many information
that is shown on YouTube then it leads to confusion that gives way for anxiety. People also
find it difficult to focus on their daily work, it becomes a multitasking system where the
person has to create a balance between focus as well as concentration. As too many news on

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YouTube often confuses people it also prevents them to think critically (Ferchaud et al.,
2018). They are unable to make a difference between high quality as well as poor quality of
content. Therefore the opinion of Andrejevic as well as Jodi Dean regarding information
overload is true to the core. However this problem can be solved if people efficiently choose
the content of information for viewing on YouTube.
Therefore to conclude it must be noted that though news and information are
necessary for everyday life too much information on YouTube can lead to negative
consequences. There should be a balance in receiving the necessary information and leaving
out those information that are not necessary. People should realise that though YouTube is a
famous networking site to exchange views and information at the same time an overload of
news in this platform might confuse people and make it meaningless.

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References
Andrejevic, M. (2019). Automating surveillance. Surveillance & Society, 17(1/2), 7-13.
Bennett, W. L. (2016). News: The politics of illusion. University of Chicago Press.
Berryman, R., & Kavka, M. (2018). Crying on YouTube: Vlogs, self-exposure and the
productivity of negative affect. Convergence, 24(1), 85-98.
Burgess, J., & Green, J. (2018). YouTube: Online video and participatory culture. John Wiley
& Sons.
Dean, J. (2020). Communicative capitalism: This is what democracy looks like. Revista de
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Ferchaud, A., Grzeslo, J., Orme, S., & LaGroue, J. (2018). Parasocial attributes and YouTube
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Smith, A. A. (2018). YouTube your science. Nature, 556(7700), 397-399.
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