Over a decade ago, I taught a class where I began by sharing facts about the amount of data in the world and how much was being created. At that time the numbers felt staggering—but I recently looked for similar numbers and was amazed at how rapidly data is expanding.
According to IDC’s Global DataSphere, as reported by Rivery (2025) citing IDC’s Global DataSphere, the world generated approximately 149 zettabytes of data in 2024, the equivalent of roughly 403 million terabytes every single day, with projections reaching 181 zettabytes by 2025 and 394 zettabytes by 2028. Approximately 90% of all data in existence has been created within just the last two years (Rivery, 2025). The human cost is measurable: a 2022 global survey of 27,000 workers across 12 countries, commissioned by OpenText and conducted by 3Gem, found that 80% of respondents experience information overload, up from 60% in 2020, and 76% report that this overload contributes to their daily stress (OpenText, 2022). The cognitive toll is equally striking. Research by Dr. Gloria Mark at UC Irvine found that the average time a person sustains focus on a single screen dropped from 2.5 minutes in 2004 to just 47 seconds by the mid-2020s, a finding replicated across five independent studies (Mark, 2023). Knowledge workers now toggle between applications over 1,200 times per day, face interruptions roughly every two minutes, and require an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to fully regain focus after each disruption (Mark, 2023).
The information anxiety first described by Wurman (1989) in the book Information Anxiety has only intensified in the decades since. For special librarians and others, the questions are:
- How do we sort through the data to find what is needed?
- How do we help our users find the information they need?
- How do we curate and organize the information in findable and usable ways?
- How do we distinguish the authoritative sources in our domain?
- How do we build systems that surface the right information proactively, rather than waiting to be asked?
While there are likely additional questions that may be unique for your context, I hope these questions resonate with you.
The answers to the questions are going to vary by context, but here are some things to help you process through what might work in your organization.
- Are there tools we can use to help us stay focused on relevant content? This could be anything from using an email rule to filter and organize email as it comes to your inbox, to setting up alerts for specific content. This allows you to focus on what needs to be done, and ensuring the information you need to see is found.
- Working with database vendors to ensure search and discovery settings are correct for your organization’s needs.
- Don’t be afraid of working tactically with information. Print, go to the stacks, slow down.
- Ask AI for the primary sources. I have found that I often read a lot of content that seems to provide information, but it is all secondary. AI has been very helpful in helping me track down primary sources more quickly.
I encourage you to take time to audit the information flows in your work life. Consider where you are getting too much information that is becoming distracting. Also, consider where you are not getting the information that you need. Then, make appropriate adjustments.
Overall, the information overload of today highlights the value of librarians. The more information available, the more important a trained professional becomes. It is vital that we are clear about that value and that we showcase what we do. Otherwise, the work of discovery, discernment, curation, prioritization and dissemination is often invisible.
References
Mark, G. (2023). Attention span: A groundbreaking way to restore balance, happiness and productivity. Hanover Square Press.
OpenText. (2022, August 16). Unlock the information advantage to combat ‘information overload’. OpenText Blogs. https://blogs.opentext.com/unlock-the-information-advantage-to-combat-information-overload/
Rivery. (2025). Data statistics: How much data is there in the world? https://rivery.io/blog/big-data-statistics-how-much-data-is-there-in-the-world/
Wurman, R. S. (1989). Information anxiety. Doubleday.
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