Member-only story
Why Human Beings Tell Stories
It’s the Most Effective Way to Communicate What You Want to Say
In the last 60 seconds, here’s what happened:
168 million emails were sent, 700,000 Google searches were launched, and 60 hours of YouTube videos were uploaded, not to mention all the spam, banner ads, phone calls, Facebook posts, tweets, texts, and telemarketing calls that found their way to your doorstep.
A whopping 90% of all data in the world has been generated in the past two years alone. Think about this: Before the dawn of civilization, approximately 5 exabytes of information had been created. Now, that much information is created every two days!
The common term for this head-spinning phenomenon is “information overload” — the inability to absorb and process all of the information we are exposed to.
And while the gory statistics change every nanosecond, the results are the same — leading to what is increasingly being referred to as “Information Fatigue Syndrome” (IFS) — a condition whose symptoms include poor concentration, depression, burnout, hostility, compulsive checking of social media, and falling into trance-like states.
This describes the mindset of many, if not all, of the people you are attempting to influence on a day-to-day basis, be they customers, clients, friends, voters…
