Filter Fatigue: The Hidden Cost of Infinite Choice (Reality Drift Working Paper Series, 2025)

This paper introduces Filter Fatigue as a descriptive term for forms of cognitive exhaustion associated with persistent choice overload and optimization in digitally mediated environments. The concept is used to distinguish these experiences from earlier frameworks focused on information overload or simulation, emphasizing instead the ongoing effort required to filter, manage, and align with continuously adaptive systems.The analysis situates Filter Fatigue within broader discussions of attention, mediation, and algorithmic influence, drawing on themes commonly explored in contemporary cultural and media analysis. Rather than attributing exhaustion solely to volume or spectacle, the paper examines how continuous filtering functions as a structural condition of modern digital life.This working paper is intended as a conceptual framework and synthesis for further discussion, not as an empirical or diagnostic account.