Interesting thoughts. Personally, I think that we need to look more at the nature of ourselves, and less at the nature of the information. We are social creatures that have evolved to interact in a certain way.

Part of the information overload IMO, stems from the fact that it is satisfying only one aspect of our need to socialize. I think what is lacking, is the ability to go socially deeper with the information presented. If we find like minded folk, we should be able to form transient groups about this commonality, and then dissolve it or ignore it when we are concerned about something else.

The problem I have with much of the information I am fed, is that it treats me like a flat list of interests. It doesn't react to my mood, and it generally doesn't allow me to make meaningful connections.

One thing I appreciate about HN, is that the people here work to inject an intellectual social human element to the interaction. The platform might not be optimized for it, but it is more or less successful.