Digital Overwhelm - by Craig E Mattson

Book Synopsis

Why does doing your job feel so flooded and so pointless at the same time? Nobody knows better than millennial and Gen Z professionals how rapid technological development has inundated post-pandemic work. Organizational researcher Craig Mattson listens to their stories and builds a framework for coping with digital overwhelm at work. This book won't tell you to declutter your digital life or to end capitalism now. But what you can do, suggests Professor Mattson, is change how you attend to zones where technological disruption meets emotional pressure. Calling these zones modes of communication, this book urges you to practice mode-switching. Addressed to millennial and Gen Z professionals, Digital Overwhelm draws on biblical wisdom literature to offer a primer on organizational communication. Each chapter is followed by a short Mode Switch Workshop addressing questions such as how to survive the Zoom room, how to write an email that sounds like you, how to get unstuck when tools break down, and how to get people to do things--so you can, too. Even technologically disrupted organizations are more navigable than they feel--if you know how to switch up your modes of communication.

Review Quotes

"In Digital Overwhelm, Craig Mattson thoughtfully explores questions of meaning and mode in modern work in a style that is simultaneously thought-provoking, whip smart, personal, and funny. Mattson expertly weaves together philosophy, theology, communication theory, and Scripture while toggling between qualitative interviews, autoethnography, and rhetorical analysis to provide a treatment that is both deeply insightful and thoroughly practical. I highly recommend this book for anyone eager to think critically about modern communication norms and practices."

--Stacey Wieland, vice president of programming, The Colossian Forum



"Anyone who has slogged through endless workplace emails, Slack messages, and Zoom calls will feel seen and heard after reading Digital Overwhelm. Drawing on jaw-droppingly honest accounts from early career millennials and Gen Zers, Craig Mattson offers innovative coaching in how to practically develop the sea legs needed for weathering the waves and storms of today's complex and digitally mediated workplaces."

--Felicia Wu Song, author of Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence, and Place in

the Digital Age



"In Digital Overwhelm, Craig Mattson has accomplished what no other author in this category has even attempted: to give the reader tools to live most fully into their potential, while simultaneously reminding them that they have infinite value and unquestioned dignity--regardless of their productivity levels. You are created in the divine image, Mattson reminds us, and by heeding his timeless wisdom, that divine image will permeate throughout your work, your life, and your spirit."

--Elan Babchuck, co-author of Picking Up the Pieces: Leadership after Empire

About the Author

Craig E. Mattson is professor of communication at Calvin University, where he holds the Arthur H. DeKruyter Chair in Faith and Communication. He is the author of Rethinking Communication in Social Business (2018) and Why Spiritual Capital Matters (2021).