Informational Overload

One thing I have noticed
About myself
Is that I have a pretty
Well defined
Limit to the amount
Of information
I can take in
In a given period of time
Before I go into
Informational overload.
If I am looking
To buy a house,
I may be able to look
At three houses
In one day, but anything
Beyond that
Tends to become a blur
And I have a hard time
Remembering
The specific details
About any of them.
I like art work
Probably as much as
Anyone else I know,
But if I go to an art museum,
There are only so many
Paintings my mind can absorb
Before even the works
Of great masters
Start to lose their impact.
Back when I was in school
Learning facts and figures,
I quickly discovered that
After a certain point,
Additional study
Was counterproductive,
For I would begin to
Lose much of what
I had already gone over.
I suppose each of us
Has a threshold
Of tolerance
Beyond which it is
Pointless to go.
There is only
So much new information
That most people
Can take in
At any given time
Before everything
Starts runs together
And becomes confused.
Each of us has to get
A sense of where
That boundary lies
Not only for ourselves,
But for our customers
And the people
We work with as well.
From a psychological sense,
It might be interesting to study
Where that boundary lies
And what it is dependent on
In people in general.
I know for me,
It is somewhat relative
To how tired I am,
But I also wonder if
It might be a function of IQ.
Do smarter people have more
Informational absorption capability,
Or do they just adapt
More effective strategies
For dealing with
Massive informational input?
With practice,
Can we extend our
Absorption cutoff
And possibly increase
Our rate of learning
As a result?
I assume this phenomenon
Is a clue to how
The human mind really works.
I know is that I have had to
Make peace with it
Within myself,
And have learned
Not to push myself
Beyond those limits.