# Information overload

> Having more inputs than you can reasonably process into understanding, a decision or an action.

## What it means

More information than you can take in to make a decision; the term’s history ; today’s forms (tabs, channels, notifications); remedies that work with any tools: fewer inputs, filters, one place per piece of work.

## A practical example

Twenty tabs, four chats and three versions of a brief create inputs but not a clear next decision.

## Put it into practice

- Name the concrete situation before applying the label. Information overload is useful only when it changes a choice, boundary or next action.
- Make the state visible: write the owner, time, source or stopping condition down instead of relying on memory.
- Review what happened. Keep the part that reduced ambiguity and change the part that added ceremony without helping the work.

## How it relates to Plexii

the Inbox widget shows only the mail a rule picks for that desk (/help/widget-inbox); the open-items strip keeps what is open in one row (/help/open-items-strip). Link /blog/too-many-tabs and /blog/one-desk-per-task.