Infodemic effect: what causes the excess of information

“Our research shows that many people felt exhausted by the constant flow of information that sometimes contradicted each other,” said Dmitry Bestuzhev , director of Kaspersky's research and analysis team for Latin America. In the Colombian case, Díaz stated that “The media focused 90% of its information on issues related to the pandemic, leaving aside other news. Although it was the information that people needed, it turns out that we also fell into a saturation that was exhausting us because it seemed that there was no more information. On the other hand, the topics that caused the greatest mental overload in people were those related to the daily update of the number of infected and deceased due to the coronavirus (79%), guidelines for the prevention of the virus (47%) and the race to vaccination (40%). Three aspects with which, today, more than a year after the declaration of covid-19 as a pandemic, we are completely used to.

Bestuzhev explained that since the virus was new, official information changed frequently at the beginning of the pandemic, which led to the creation and spread of fake news. This created confusion and affected people's behavior , because, compared to other probably controversial issues, there were not enough certainties about covid-19 at the time. “Over the last 14 months, we have detected false information that exploits the topic of covid-19, such as fake government subsidies and fraudulent websites offering everything from masks to vaccines, which, in addition to spreading disinformation, have the objective of steal user data,” Bestuzhev said.

For his part, Díaz assured that “fake news spreads up to six times faster than true news.” In the case of the pandemic, "the 'fake news' was used by some to cause a greater sense of uncertainty, greater fear among the population, with a very effective result."

“Before we didn't do things because 'someone said'. Today the 'they told me' , 'they tell', 'they say' prevails a lot and, under those terms, many people took advantage of the occasion and people fell into their trap , ”he added. Before this scenario, Díaz always recommended verifying the information and making sure that it comes from a reliable source before sharing it. “You have to be aware of the pages or extensions that share satirical or false information so as not to fall into the trap. You have to have a much more reflective and critical mentality of the information that circulates in social networks”, he stated.

The report revealed that information overload has caused stress (51%), pessimism (41%), anxiety (28%), depression (33%) and discomfort (26%) among Latin Americans. "This became evident in that, despite the constant repetition of protection strategies, the use of a mask, alcohol gel and social distancing by experts, crowds of people without masks continued to form ," Bestuzhev stressed. "What experience is similar to a denial of service attack (DDoS – cyber attack that tries to overload a website/service with multiple accesses) to our brain, which when saturated generates a 'mental blackout'“, he stated (Also: China denies that researchers contracted covid at the end of 2019).

To avoid this situation, the company recommended, in principle, to maintain a balanced life , organizing the time to carry out physical activities, eat every four hours and sleep eight hours a day. It is also important to organize virtual schedules , choosing a period of the day to read news, answer emails and messages. In social networks or browsers you can also use the 'view/read later' option, which can be useful. (Also read: Dogs can detect covid with an accuracy of up to 94%) He also advised taking a break or a break after a period of intense work and concentration. With this the brain can be prepared to absorb more information. "We create the habit that we have to do everything in real time, but that's not the case... Our brain needs to 'process' certain information and we need to give it time to react to everything that happens on a daily basis," Bestuzhev said. “I suggest that people turn off cell phone notifications for short periods and overnight. This will allow the brain to rest and clear," he stressed.

- Test: Know how slave you are to the mobile phone- Should children be vaccinated against covid-19 or not?

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