Information: Too Much or Too Soon?

Sharing accurate and high-quality information is critical during the pandemic to reduce people's anxiety, making them well informed, and ensuring they follow the correct steps. Despite the importance of information in pandemic management, too much information or its untimely release can be harmful to individuals and communities. During the time of COVID-19 pandemic, as an example, people were overwhelmed with the amount of information they received from the public, newspapers, and social media. The information might not be from trusted sources, which might negatively affect people's psychological health. This chapter will examine the ways in which this can occur and the potential impacts of pandemic-related information overload on mental health and psychological well-being. The chapter will also examine the important issue of timeliness in releasing information through the traditional media or online, highlighting situations in which the untimely release of information has exacerbated the crisis in some national settings.