Author
Dr. Craig E. Mattson
A Mid-Career Guide to Coping at Work
Why does work often feel overwhelming and pointless?
You know the struggle of post-pandemic, tech-driven chaos. Organizational researcher Craig Mattson doesn’t offer decluttering tips or radical solutions. Instead, he shows how to navigate digital overwhelm by "mode-switching"—changing how you communicate where tech and stress collide.
Digital Overwhelm draws on ancient wisdom, especially from the Hebrew scriptures, to help you transform the intensities of modern work. Each chapter gives you a workshop to tackle real problems like Zoom fatigue, writing authentic emails, and staying productive. Work doesn’t have to drown you—if you know how to switch gears.
Attention to communication modes opens up possibilities for something besides blame for managers or criticism of workers, mockery for millennials or condemnation of Gen Zs. The complexity and the changeability of modes remind us that we are all quarter-lifer deconverts. None of us fits comfortably within our designated generation, and given the evolutions of digital communication, we keep having to begin again.
- Digital Overwhelm: Afterword
About The Author
Craig E. Mattson
Craig Mattson is an organizational researcher who serves as a professor of communication at Calvin University. He’s written several books and numerous essays, often exploring the communicational complexities of organizational life. But when he’s not writing and reading and podcasting, he’s enjoying the natural world, hiking, running, and playing driveway pickleball. Craig lives with his wife Rhoda in Grand Rapids, MI, and their four adult children live and study and work across the Midwest.
What people are saying about
DIGITAL OVERWHELM
"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. 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 and reading Digital Overwhelm. Drawing on jaw-dropping 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 - reglardless 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