On a recent walk down an ancient Sicilian street bursting with color, my pocket was buzzing with signals suggesting next moves: the "best" hotel from TripAdvisor, top-notch eats from Google, can't-miss sites from TikTokers. While useful, such signals seemed to snatch away the thrill of stumbling upon something new.

Every day, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data (that's 18 zeros, equivalent to about 145,000 Libraries of Congress) drown out the spontaneity that often leads to our most memorable life experiences. This isn't mere background noise. As research in decision-making psychology shows, this data onslaught........

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