It is probably too late to restore our attention span to that of our grandparents. After a decade of smartphone use and social media, the harm is perhaps irreversible.

• Information overload was a term coined in the mid-1960s by Bertram Gross, a social scientist.
• In 1970, writer Alvin Toffler popularized the idea of information overload as part of a set of predictions about eventual dependence on technology.
• Another set of academics wrote ...

When we temporarily remove ourselves from information overload, our other senses start to sharpen. Hearing improves as well as smell and touch. We can think clearer. It can feel addictive to want to cut ties with visual overload.