There's Such a Thing as TMI - Too Much Information

There's such a thing as too much information (TMI). Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT talking about sex or bodily functions -- things people usually associate with TMI -- because I've certainly been known to talk about my kid's poop and my bra size with random moms in the drugstore aisle. I mean, isn't that one of the beauties of being a mom? Within five minutes of meeting another mom, you could be talking about things like how necessary it is, since having a baby, to pee before you workout. TMI? NO PROBLEM. Loves it.

The problem is INFORMATION. The kind you get when you open your laptop, you wait restlessly for your wireless to load and, finally, wildly hit that search button. Enter: H1N1. Enter: Formula Feeding. Enter: Breastfeeding. Enter: (I don't know) Stomach Cramps; Global Warming; Economy; Pesticides; Poodles; Chocolate. No matter what, as my doctor likes to tell me, "You google it? You're going to find 'cancer,' 'death,' all doom and gloom." Information on the internet is endless, often unreliably sourced, often motivated by one side of an issue or another, by money. Even if you do manage to find a reliable source of information, you'll find at least one link in the sidebar, or in the footnotes, to MORE information -- information that will keep you up at night.

Since becoming a mom, I have to say, I've become obsessed with information. There are too many pregnancy books, too many parenting books, too many sites with conflicting information about the health and well-being of my children. There are too many sites and books and magazine articles claiming that if I don't do THIS or THAT, I'm harming my children, and possibly my children's children.

Information is power, they say. My arse. Information in this day and age can be downright disempowering. 

"Everybody be responsible," they said about the H1N1 vaccine, "do your research." How many times did you read that in the newspaper, hear that on the news, see that on twitter? DO YOUR RESEARCH and see what you're putting in your kids' bodies. DO YOUR RESEARCH and see what happens if you DON'T put that in your kids' bodies. It's a wonder we haven't all gone insane.

I'm here to tell you that all this information can be harmful, disempowering, and must be used in moderation, and with care. I'm here to remind you that you have live resources. I'm here to tell you that googling and reading too much and watching CNN before bed can harm you. I'm here to challenge you to put the computer away for the rest of the day and pick up a novel, call your mother. I'm here to challenge you not to google your latest curiosity -- or at least to notice how often you do.

I'm here to tell you that I have OCD and anxiety from too much information. I'm not the only one. Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, has a world-renowned clinic for perinatal (and maternal) depression and anxiety -- something I've suffered from since I became pregnant with my first child. They're now growing their clinic to accommodate increasing numbers of cases. They're not happy about the increasing numbers, but they're happy that pregnant women are seeking help.

It's really hard to find truth on the internet. Truth is found within yourself. In your own heart. Too much information -- from books, the internet, magazines, newspapers, radio, television -- can so easily cloud truth and make you doubt your own natural instincts. I'm here to gently urge you to remember that.

This is an original post for Canada Moms Blog. Haley-O writes regularly at her personal blog CheatyMonkey.com -- to which people come from all over the world in search for too much information on Justin Timberlake's private parts, celebrity feet, and her own crazy little life.