How to free increased physical memory consumption?

Is it true that human's brain capacity for absorbing information has increased drastically since last 10 years ? Does it have any ill-effects on processing and consumption capability of information on an individual?

• Let's face it. Information was present in the world ever since its inception. After 70's, information started getting digitized. But the real change came after 2000, when information started coming in a more "consumable" form, viz. Forums/Blogs/Videos. Even more, information consumption used to be limited to individual consumption earlier. Later, the "share" verb was able to propagate information to a wider audience, and to individual's circle of connections. So, the question is: Were we exposed to lesser information earlier despite having a giant-sized appetite  OR, are we exposed to too-much information which is against the normal capacity of an average human to make sense of information and enable him to process the actionable information.

• Answer:

  The true crux of the answer lies not around the volume of information to process, but the complexity of the information. While it is true that we are being fed larger quantities of information, what has really changed in the last few decades is the amount of interaction, coordination, and sources for collaboration that come along with that information. Let me offer a snippet from a paper written by Paul and Nazareth (2010) about information processing: “Schroder et al. [55] proposed a nonlinear (inverted Ushaped) relationship between the complexity of input information and the level of information processing (Fig. 1), drawing from work by Miller on cognitive processing limitations [46]. The level of information processing is the maximum when the input complexity is moderate, i.e., neither too high nor too low. This is referred to as the “optimal point” of input complexity by Schroder et al. [55]. When input complexity increases, individuals increase their information processing up to the “optimal point” beyond which they fail to process all input information and experience information overload [26].” (Figure 1) Essentially, each person is different, but we can certainly process more and more information to a point, and that point is affected equally by the complexity of the information processing. For example, it is extremely simple to read Twitter status updates, and a regular person can blow through several hundred in a matter of minutes. However, one email that requires you to digest and synthesize information, consult various files, and get input from peers, all before crafting a response, is what drastically slows us down. This doesn't directly address the question of whether the human brain has itself changed in the last few years, but without actual research to back it up, I would venture to say that no, it has not. We are capable of processing the same amount and complexity of information--we are simply processing more of it. As a result, other aspects of our lives have changed. We generally experience elevated stress (specifically technostress), spend more hours in knowledge working positions, etc. We may be developing more ways to adapt to this type of lifestyle, but physically and chemically I would guess that we have not had enough time just yet for a lasting change to occur in our brains. Sources: Paul, S., & Nazareth, D. L. (2010). Input information complexity, perceived time pressure, and information processing in GSS-based work groups: An experimental investigation using a decision schema to alleviate information overload conditions. Decision Support Systems, 49(1), 31-40. Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.dss.2009.12.007