Overstimulation in an oversaturated world
On neurodivergence and way too many outlets of entertainment
When my friends and I study, we play a YouTube video in the background of an aesthetic still shot and light music. I take the bus and vary between scrolling through TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram. [I still fiercely call it Twitter, even though I have recently deleted the app.] I listen to music when I play video games. As I write this, I’m watching a movie at the same time.
The media critics are likely right: Our generation is consuming countless forms of media at concerningly high rates. But it can’t be blamed entirely on us, for “smart” technology and marketing advanced so quickly that it was hard to even realize the possible side effects. Attention and retention rates have been on a steady decline, and it’s most commonly either blamed on social media or the COVID-19 pandemic (or both). So, we have an oversaturated world of media—short form videos on various apps, new television shows and songs constantly released—that almost seems too fast to catch up to.
Overstimulation and sensory overload can be very common for many neurodivergent people, such as people with autism, ADHD, and OCD. It may be loud noises, bright lights, crowds, or changes to routines. I can’t tell you what it feels like for other people, but I can explain how it feels in my brain. It feels like a television screen is zooming toward my face at full speed, and the television screen has a new interest. Whatever interest or fixation, such as my latest ones of Sasaki to Miyano and Jujutsu Kaisen. But, right when the television screen is about to touch my face, another screen is floating toward my face, as well. And another and another and another.
All of the screens are moving so quickly that I can’t fully comprehend why I liked the original one in the first place. I feel like I don’t get enough time with each of them, like they’re too fleeting in my mind for me to fully appreciate them. There’s so many moments that I want to hold dearly in my memories, but I can’t embrace them properly. And another one arrives and another and another. I love my interests so much, but I never get enough time with them. I wish there were more hours in the day so I could properly think about them.
When I feel overstimulated, my brain feels like it’s been turned off. There’s only quietness, and everything stops. It becomes hard for me to focus. I don’t feel as though I’m completely present. I become exhausted too quickly, and I want to go to bed. But at the same time, I want to stay awake and ingest information about the things I like.
Often, I want to watch the same movie over and over again. Over one summer, I would watch a season of Stranger Things a day because of how much I enjoyed thinking about it. During these periods of obsession, I want to only talk about that interest. Combining obsession (alternatively called my all-or-nothing feelings) and overstimulation, and I feel as though my brain is shutting off. And although I hate the feeling of overstimulation, I still write while watching a movie and watch several videos at the same time. I’m contributing to my very problem.
Today, I tried to explain this feeling to my mother in the car. I watered it down, telling her how I get too overstimulated during the school year to read for fun because I am too busy reading for class. And when I am not reading for class, I am playing a game or doing something else I’ve deemed productive, for my brain feels too overwhelmed to even force myself to relax. Even if I’m giving everything only 80 percent of myself, I’m exhausted.
[I haven’t decided how I feel about this video. For my siblings and I, the internet was an escape of what was going on in our childhoods. I did enjoy the section on consumption versus creation, though.]
Maybe, it’s just because I feel everything so deeply. My all-or-nothing personality comes into play, paired with the most recent show, movie, or book that I am enjoying. I don’t know how to feel things less, but I am trying to attempt turning down the volume in my brain. But then again, I would probably feel that attempt deeply, as well.
Still, all I want is to have my interests without feeling like the world of media is caving in on me at all times. It surely would be nice to have one interest at a time without the others creeping in on my mind.
I’m not sure if this feeling is the same that other neurodivergent individuals feel, but this overstimulation can be utterly exhausting. As I’ve learned more about this feeling of overstimulation, I’ve tried to learn ways to cope with it. I try to set my time for interests into a schedule—a block of time to think about them, to obsess over them. In a similar manner, I set time in my schedule to “relax”—a word I’m not sure I completely am executing properly but am certainly attempting.
The natural solution to combat the oversaturated media market would be to turn off the media, as you can imagine. Turn off your phone, your social media, anything that makes you feel overwhelmed. If only there were a way to turn off technology without turning off our want for stimulation, right? The real question would then be to ask what the right amount of stimulation is. Not under, not over—just right.
Should you only use your phone for a set number of hours a day? Limit yourself to only three episodes a day? Should Instagram only be used on the weekends? But even with these schedules, how does one fix the boredom that the lack of technology provides?
Combatting overstimulation by de-centering productivity
When examining my own overstimulation, I realized it was connected to my relationship with productivity and how my neurodivergence loves routine. This becomes even more evident when reflecting on my past three and a half years of college: I set my mind on a schedule that I knew would optimize my productivity, although all of my friends told me I was doing everything all at once. Maybe it was just the way I was raised—paying for college on my own and such—but productivity has often been at the center of my school life.
As a nearly-graduated university student, I’ve tried to prepare for my last semester by learning to center rest and relaxation in my schedule. I don’t go home and immediately work anymore; rather, I try to play a video game or watch a show—most importantly, without a method of productivity in front of me. Last summer, I would watch a movie while working on a website for a work-related endeavor at the same time.
This new year will be focused on de-centering productivity in aims to combat the overstimulation that my neurodivergent self finds to be too much.
What does de-centering productivity look like, you may wonder? For the way my brain works, it looks like restructuring my schedules in order to have time to turn my brain off. My schedules are not about optimizing productivity anymore but rather making sure my mental health is taken care of, specifically with my neurodivergence. Luckily, my work hours are decreasing for the semester, so I’ll hopefully have more time for this!
Overall, I’ve also just been prioritizing the things that make me happy, especially with my hyper-fixations. With the time to really enjoy the things I like, I don’t feel too stressed to be productive as much. De-centering productivity means that an “end goal product”, such as a job for work completed, has to be seen as less important—and just pure joy has to be seen as more important.
This doesn’t have to necessarily look like working less hours or putting less effort into work, but it requires a mental shift in how one looks at productivity and relaxation. A 2023 article about capitalism, ableism, and productivity connected the importance of community care with disability justice and de-centering productivity, one that I found very insightful to read. More importantly, it also brings up vital perspectives on how a capitalistic society doesn’t necessarily allow for people to properly relax with how much productivity is glamorized.
And still, my neurodivergence makes me want to be productive every second that I am awake, for I fear I’ll miss out on an opportunity if I am not working. This change in perspective doesn’t happen overnight, especially for someone who is used to putting in 100% of my energy at all times. I still go down rabbit holes of wishing I could create art as cool as the content I’m consuming for fun, and I still definitely end up trying to push productivity onto myself when I’m trying to relax [most recently, it’s been appearing through writing].
For now, my attempt to combat overstimulation is simply accepting the fact that I can’t do everything I want to do. There isn’t enough hours in the day, rest is vital to my existence, and not doing stuff is okay.
I’m too tired to continue writing, but here are some videos I watched while preparing to write this entry: