What is Information Overload?
Unsurprisingly, many women prefer to ‘go with the flow’ or willingly hand responsibility to a care provider. Information overload occurs when we feel overwhelmed and impacts our ability to make informed decisions.
There are two main issues regarding information overload: the quality of the information and the time to digest it.
Information Quality
There is so much varying information out there, much of it contradictory and full of bias, that it can be challenging to know where to begin seeking information. For many, in pregnancy, we default to our care providers. Our modern maternity system tends towards invention rather than support, without fully disclosing how a recommended intervention changes your pathways. In this case, the provided information is within a narrow context, without enough detail, limiting our options and ability to make a confident decision.
If you try to do your research, you may be overwhelmed by the number of articles, websites, podcasts and blogs, and need help knowing where to begin. How do you filter the quality information from the rubbish?
Time Pressure
Standard Maternity Care often unfolds on a ‘need-to-know’ basis, with decisions made in time-critical circumstances. Appointments during pregnancy are usually too short to discuss the options thoroughly. If we do not know what questions to ask, we are often unable to start or contribute to these discussions. It is often the benefit of hindsight that reveals the things we should have asked.
How to avoid information overload
We must have time in advance to consider the various pathways to know where we are and where we can go. We need resources that we can make sense of and time to digest and contextualise information.
There is No One Way, and it can be hard to find Your Way in a system that assumes we are all the same.
When you are exploring new information, keep these questions in mind to help determine its value:
Reliability – who wrote it, is it well written; who said it, why and based on what?
Is it selling ‘a quick fix’ and suggests you can’t achieve your goal without it?
Is it sponsored (beware the formula company giving breastfeeding ‘advice’)?
Does it have an ‘agenda’? Is this agenda in your best interest, or is there some benefit to another being favoured?
How does this information fit with your current understanding? Does it challenge it or reinforce it?
How do you feel about it?
Join the Free Member Access
The Birth Map (in flipbook format) and a digital version of The Game of Birth can be accessed in the free member area, along with resources to help you start your research more confidently.
My book, The Birth Map, evolved in response to this all-too-common situation. We need to know in advance what the pathways look like to recognise where we are as our journey unfolds and be ready to decide where we need to go. Take time to understand The Flows of Modern Birthing; birth is not as random as we are led to believe. It is possible to consider the various pathways and understand which pathway may be better for us.
I created The Game of Birth to help demonstrate the aspects we can and can’t control. This way, as our birth unfolds, we are better equipped to make informed decisions.
The conclusions are yours to make, always.