Information overload is one of those things that sounds like a minor inconvenience until it's actually happening to you. When it hits properly it's not just "a bit much" — it's a full system shutdown.
What it actually feels like
For me it usually comes from having too many things demanding attention at the same time. Multiple tasks, multiple decisions, multiple threads running in parallel — at some point the brain just hits a limit. It doesn't feel like being busy. It feels like anxiety and irritability arriving at the same time, followed by a kind of shutdown where doing anything at all becomes difficult. The more you try to push through it the worse it gets.
What actually helps
The most reliable thing is stepping away entirely. Not switching to a different task — actually stopping. Closing tabs, putting the screen down, doing something completely undemanding. The brain needs to actually drain the queue, not just process different items from it.
Switching tasks works sometimes — if one thing has become the specific source of overload, moving to something completely different can reset things enough to come back to it later. But it only works if the new task is genuinely lower demand, not just different demand.
Prevention is easier than recovery
The best thing I've found is trying not to let too many threads accumulate in the first place. Finishing one thing before starting another where possible, keeping the task list visible so nothing is floating around in working memory taking up space, and not letting context switches pile up.
It doesn't always work. Sometimes things just pile up and the shutdown happens anyway. But recognising it quickly — rather than spending an hour trying to push through something that's made everything worse — is half the battle.