Filter Fatigue: Definition and Concept Paper

This paper defines Filter Fatigue as a core concept within the Reality Drift framework, describing the structural cognitive strain produced by continuous curation, personalization, and algorithmic filtering in digital environments. Unlike decision fatigue or the paradox of choice, Filter Fatigue refers not to the burden of excessive options, but to the persistent narrowing and management of relevance itself. As digital systems increasingly optimize experience through filtering, they reduce exposure to friction, variation, and contextual surprise, creating environments that are smoother but thinner. The paper examines how sustained filtering contributes to attention fragmentation, contextual erosion, and semantic compression, weakening the conditions under which meaning remains stable. As a canonical concept paper within the Reality Drift framework, it provides the primary definitional and interpretive basis for understanding how optimization reshapes cognition through continuous environmental curation.