“Noise, in its broadest sense, is any undifferentiated thing which assaults the senses. It is pervasive and ubiquitous, whether auditory, visual, or textural. The supply of noise is infinite,” Dee W. Hock, the founder and former CEO of VISA, writes in his essay “Data to Wisdom.”

When I left Instagram, I was following over 1,000 people. What I found each day was that I was unable to keep up with the content of those I followed. There was always a storm of new images and stories that would be posted and that I could then view. I’d find my mornings or evenings buried in a digital mountain of information and from that moment in the morning onward, it felt impossible to overcome this mountain of content. I immediately started my day by clogging my intake of information.

"We are now at a point in time when the ability to receive, utilize, store, transform, and transmit information (the lower cognitive forms) has literally exploded beyond comprehension, thus inundating understanding and wisdom. We are drowning in a raging flood of new data and information, and the raft of wisdom to which we desperately cling is breaking up beneath us,” Hock wrote.

In an effort to reduce the information overload that I’ve experienced, I am actively in the process of trimming back (or ending) my social media use. Now, I do think there will be some habits that I need to work on to make sure I don’t slip back in, but, ideally, this will be a step toward creating more mental space.

So, let me finally answer the first question that I posed at the start. Why a newsletter? Well, it offers me a space to continue sharing work. It also allows easier access to additional resources, articles, podcasts, etc. which can provide more clarity and understanding. Lastly, it removes the pacing of social media. With that being said, let’s dig in.

Here is the link to recent work and a short piece on navigating the Covid-19 pandemic.

Here is the link to the reflection on my father's passing and how memory and photographs are a part of this process.

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