GET HELP

Information Overload in Teens: What It Is and How to Cope

Meagan Burkhart
November 28, 2025
Authored by: Meagan Burkhart,
Edited by: Emma Loker, BSc, PgDip
CALL (866) 901-4047
INSURANCE VERIFICATION

In today’s technology-focused world, we can look up almost anything with the click of a button. Search engines, along with the development of artificial intelligence, offer expansive amounts of information at our fingertips. While this can be useful in some cases, it may also lead to information overload in teens. We can think of information overload as having too many details or facts, but not enough energy or resources to process all of it.1 

Information overload can be particularly challenging for teens with cognitive processing issues or other executive functioning deficits because it can impact their academic performance and overall ability to learn. 

This page can help you better understand the information overload teens face, its impact on students, and how to cope. It does so by covering the following topics:

  • What information overload in teens is
  • The link between information overload and mental fatigue in adolescents
  • Cognitive challenges students face
  • How overload could impact neurodivergence and mental health 
  • Support for overwhelmed teens
  • Where to find professional support
teen girl studying at table in kitchen experiencing information overload in teens

What Is Information Overload in Teens?

In psychology, information overload is also known as “cognitive overload,” which means that the brain has limited resources to process information. So, when we are presented with too much information, it can be more harmful than good. Researchers have tried to explain how this works by using different psychological theories, one of which is the cognitive load theory (CLT). Essentially, when adolescents are presented with too much information, this theory suggests that finding a way to search, select, organize, and process all of it becomes a challenge.2

This effect may be especially obvious in teens today, as they are bombarded with social media, emails, internet publications, and the newest technological advances. Further, according to recent studies, information overload is linked to a variety of negative health outcomes, like anxiety, uncertainty, stress, demotivation, fear, and mental fatigue in adolescents.2-5

Information overload in teens is also associated with a decrease in productivity and personal satisfaction. This can be explained by how, when we are presented with more and more information, it becomes increasingly difficult to determine what is useful, accurate, reliable, and high-quality.2,3

Knowing that the information overload teens face is a common problem today, it’s important to find ways to intervene early to prevent any potential negative health consequences.

The Link Between Information Overload and Mental Fatigue in Adolescents

Another concept closely related to information overload is mental fatigue in adolescents. In general, we can think of mental fatigue as something that happens after being consistently engaged in cognitive activity for a long period of time.6,7 

Mental fatigue can be associated with feeling like you can’t concentrate or complete important tasks. This is because mental fatigue has a direct impact on attention, so it can cause teens to be easily distractible. For example, you might notice your child experiences mental fatigue when they are overwhelmed academically. Being overwhelmed by schoolwork teen problems are fairly common, but they can still take a toll on your child’s well-being, as well as their academic achievement.6,7

Mental Fatigue vs. Emotional Stress at School 

A key point to note is that mental fatigue is not the same as the emotional stress at school teens sometimes face. The key difference between stress and mental fatigue is that stress induces a fight-or-flight response to a perceived threat, whereas mental fatigue can result from being exposed to chronic stress.6,7 

Instead of being hyperaware of a threat or feeling panic, mental fatigue leads to mental tiredness, which decreases attention and impairs a teen’s executive functioning. In contrast, stress has a physical and psychological component, so when teens are affected emotionally by stress in school each day, it can change how the brain responds to information.6-8

How Information Overload Can Create Cognitive Challenges for Students

Information overload and mental fatigue can combine to create the cognitive challenges teens often face, which may become more apparent in the school environment. Some of the cognitive challenges experienced may include procrastination, forgetfulness, indecisiveness, and poor concentration. 

In addition, there are emotional effects of information overload that can cause additional cognitive challenges in teens. For example, increased frustration and mood swings can stop students from completing their schoolwork and make them feel less satisfied with their efforts.9

Further, cognitive impairments resulting from information overload and mental fatigue could also include decreased executive control. Executive control is the ability to manage our attention and physical processes to allow us to swap from task to task. For this reason, decreased executive control is tied to problems with working memory, verbal reasoning, cognitive flexibility, abstract thinking, inhibition, sequencing, planning, rule acquisition, and problem-solving. Together, these cognitive challenges can impact a teen’s ability to switch from task to task and achieve their goals.10

Now that we understand how information overload and mental fatigue impact adolescents today, let’s explore additional mental health challenges that can intensify these issues.

How Overload Could Affect Neurodivergence and Mental Health

The term “neurodivergence” encompasses people who present with cognitive abilities that differ from the norm in terms of language, reading, behavior, or movement. Examples of neurodivergent populations include teens with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and dyslexia.11-13 

Neurodivergent teens can be more susceptible to different forms of anxiety in school. Some examples of different anxiety problems for neurodivergent students may include test anxiety, social anxiety, and a general fear of being negatively evaluated.12-14

Adolescents with ADHD and/or ASD sometimes experience higher rates of other mental health issues, including elevated emotional burden, having more commonly upsetting events, and emotion regulation deficits. This can also lead to an increased risk of developing depression, as adolescents with ADHD and ASD may have more emotional lability, teen irritability, and reactivity. All of these markers of dysregulation are linked to additional cognitive problems like poor emotional perception and awareness, executive control, and metacognition.12-14

As a result of these issues, teens with neurodivergence may be more prone to information overload and could require more specific neurodivergent teens support. 

Support for Overwhelmed Teens

Whether your child is neurotypical or neurodivergent, if they’re consistently facing information overload, they may be at risk for developing mental fatigue or a mental health concern. If this is the case for your teen, it might be time to consider seeking professional support. 

In the following sections, we explore the process of support for overwhelmed teens.

Overwhelm Mental Health Evaluation Youth

The first step in finding the right treatment may be seeking a mental health evaluation for your child to determine if they’re experiencing overwhelm due to an underlying mental health condition. If this is the case, they may be able to get an appropriate mental health diagnosis and tailored treatment. 

There are several options for mental health screening tools in schools for adolescents. The NIH looked at some well-established mental health evaluations, such as the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment-7 (GAD-7), and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), when trying to develop a structured mental health screening process in schools. These measures can be good options for teens who need to be screened for anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders.15

If you’re interested in getting a mental health evaluation for your child, you could speak to a doctor about a referral or contact a mental health professional directly.

Counseling for Overwhelmed Teens

Different types of counseling and therapy programs are available for teens overwhelmed by schoolwork and academic stress. The right approach for your child’s needs may come down to their specific symptoms and needs.

One form of therapy that is commonly used to treat mental health conditions in adolescents is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). More recently, CBT has been used to specifically target academic burnout, procrastination, problematic behaviors in school, and test anxiety in adolescents. A recent study showed that a six- to eight-session protocol once per week improved these issues. Therapy sessions for CBT can include different strategies, like psychoeducation, cognitive restructuring, stress management, problem-solving skills, and goal-oriented training.16 

The different techniques used in CBT allow for better teen academic stress coping abilities and decrease the negative behaviors caused by the information overload teens face. Further, in addition to addressing academic and social challenges, CBT promotes more positive attitudes and motivation that can lead to better academic performance. Another thing that makes CBT so effective is that it helps adolescents get to the root problem and what causes it to affect them. This adds an extra layer of learning support for teens.16

Additional Coping Strategies for Information Overload in Teens 

Outside of a structured therapy program, your teen can work on building up their own coping skills to manage academic stress and information overload. 

Some examples of specific skills they could focus on include the following:17

  • Setting goals and priorities
  • Making a schedule to organize study time and homework
  • Using relaxation techniques like deep breathing, meditation, and yoga
  • Adjusting expectations and standards so that they are more reasonable and achievable

In addition to working through skills on their own, your child can seek additional support from people who are close to them. This can include their peers, family, teachers, or school counselors. By utilizing all of the resources available to them, your child can better overcome issues like anxiety and learning difficulties, as well as emotional stress.17

Teen boy smiling whilst completing math calculation on whiteboard in class after support with information overload in teens

Mission Prep: Providing Supportive Therapy for Teens

At Mission Prep, our team is committed to providing teens and their families with the supportive therapy they need to succeed both inside and outside the classroom. We understand that in today’s technology-focused world, teens are often bombarded with more information than they can handle. With all this extra stress, it’s not uncommon for mental health issues to arise.

If you’ve been searching for “therapy for teens near me” and it feels like you can’t find a good starting point, contact our team. Mission Prep offers treatment programs to address a wide range of mental health conditions in adolescents, and each of these options can be tailored to your child’s unique needs.

References

  1. Benselin, J. C., & Ragsdell, G. (2016). Information overload: The differences that age makes. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 48(3), 284-297. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000614566341 
  2. Sigolo, B. D. O. O., & Casarin, H. D. C. S. (2024). Contributions of cognitive load theory to understanding information overload: a literature review. RDBCI: Revista Digital de Biblioteconomia e Ciência da Informação, 22, e024027. https://doi.org/10.20396/rdbci.v22i00.8677359/en 
  3. Bawden, D., & Robinson, L. (2020). Information overload: An introduction. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1360 
  4. Graf, B., & Antoni, C. H. (2022). Drowning in the flood of information: a meta-analysis on the relation between information overload, behaviour, experience, and health and moderating factors. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 32(2), 173–198. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2022.2118051 
  5. Bawden, D., & Robinson, L. (2009). The dark side of information: overload, anxiety and other paradoxes and pathologies. Journal of Information Science, 35(2), 180-191. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551508095781 
  6. Boksem, M. A., Meijman, T. F., & Lorist, M. M. (2005). Effects of mental fatigue on attention: an ERP study. Cognitive Brain Research, 25(1), 107-116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2005.04.011 
  7. Kunasegaran, K., Ismail, A. M. H., Ramasamy, S., Gnanou, J. V., Caszo, B. A., & Chen, P. L. (2023). Understanding mental fatigue and its detection: a comparative analysis of assessments and tools. PeerJ, 11, e15744. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15744 
  8. Mariotti, A. (2015). The Effects of Chronic Stress On Health: New Insights Into the Molecular Mechanisms of Brain–Body Communication. Future Science OA, 1(3). https://doi.org/10.4155/fso.15.21 
  9. Aadland, M. G., & Heinström, J. (2024). ‘It never seems to stop.’ Six high school students’ experiences of information overload. Information Research, 29(2), 159-172. https://doi.org/10.47989/ir292830 
  10. May, R. W., Bauer, K. N., & Fincham, F. D. (2015). School burnout: Diminished academic and cognitive performance. Learning and Individual Differences, 42, 126-131. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2015.07.015 
  11. Mahak, S., Malone, S., Elsherif, M., Hand, C. J., & Morsanyi, K. (2025). Academic anxiety and cognitive reflection in neurodivergence based on evidence from a large international sample. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 37522. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-21504-6 
  12. Lukito, S., Chandler, S., Kakoulidou, M., Griffiths, K., Wyatt, A., Funnell, E., … & Wilson, A. (2025). Emotional burden in school as a source of mental health problems associated with ADHD and/or autism: Development and validation of a new co‐produced self‐report measure. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 66(10), 1577-1592. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.70003 
  13. Terlich, R., Krishnamoorthy, G., & Fein, E. C. (2024). Supporting the Mental Health Needs of Neurodivergent Students: Outcomes of a Mental Health Literacy Program for Primary School Educators. Education Sciences, 14(10), 1069. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14101069 
  14. Boulton, K. A., Guastella, A. J., Hodge, M. A., Demetriou, E. A., Ong, N., & Silove, N. (2023). Mental health concerns in children with neurodevelopmental conditions attending a developmental assessment service. Journal of Affective Disorders, 335, 264-272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.04.098 
  15. Connors, E. H., Moffa, K., Carter, T., Crocker, J., Bohnenkamp, J. H., Lever, N. A., & Hoover, S. A. (2022). Advancing mental health screening in schools: Innovative, field‐tested practices and observed trends during a 15‐month learning collaborative. Psychology in the Schools, 59(6), 1135-1157. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22670 
  16. Khurshid, K., Mushtaq, R., Rauf, U., Anwar, N., Abbas, Q., Aljhani, S., … & Shahzadi, M. (2025). Cognitive behavior therapy for academic burnout, procrastination, self-handicapping behavior, and test anxiety among adolescents: a randomized control trial. BMC Psychology, 13(1), 94. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-02371-2 
  17. Handayani, F., Jonathan, B., Joshuar, W., Mark, E., & Halim, C. (2024). Coping strategies in overcoming academic stress among high school students. Journal Neosantara Hybrid Learning, 2(1), 426-441. https://doi.org/10.55849/jiem.v1i1.1 
Tagged ,