---
title: The Limit Of 7 Is Now 4
date: 2025-08-10T03:58:05.029781
author: Charlie M.
category: SIGNAL
---
I was sitting on my bed this morning, sunlight creeping through the blinds, scrolling through Instagram like it’s my morning paper. Half-awake, still trying to piece together the weird dream I had. Something about flying cats or maybe it was singing dogs. Anyway, my mind was juggling a few things as usual—should I work out before I start work, or maybe just delete some apps to focus?—when I remembered this thing I read about how our brains can only hold so much stuff at once.
I guess, for the longest time, I thought it was seven things, you know? Like, everyone talks about the magical number seven. I think it was Miller or someone like that who said it decades ago—seven plus or minus two? Something around there. But recently, I stumbled on this idea that it's actually not seven but four. Just four. Cowan or whoever it was, back in 2001, flipping the script and saying, "Hey, maybe it’s really just four." This made me think, like, really? Just four? I can barely remember where I left my keys half the time, so maybe that makes sense.
So, I’m wondering, have we all just been overloading ourselves, thinking we can juggle seven things when really it's four? Like, cooking dinner while watching TV, texting a friend, and maybe also trying to remember the grocery list. That's four things, right there. No wonder I forgot to buy the milk yesterday. Working memory, they call it, and supposedly there's all this cognitive load theory stuff that says we can't overdo it, but we try anyway. We’re just these ambitious creatures, thinking we can handle everything.
And then I think about all those times I’ve tried to streamline my life, deleting apps to focus or trying out new productivity hacks. Maybe my problem all along was just thinking I had more brain bandwidth than I actually have. But then, I don’t know. On some days, multitasking feels like it's working. Like I’m in the zone. Other days, though, it’s chaos. So what’s the deal with that? Is it context? Mood? Lack of coffee?
And yeah, all these studies, they sound super convincing, but I always wonder how they tested this. Like, did they just watch people forget stuff in a lab? How real is any of this when I’m just here, in my bedroom, trying to not get distracted by the thought of making pancakes?
Maybe there’s something to all this. But then again, maybe not. Maybe I’m just overthinking it, which would be just like me. It’s all so fuzzy, isn’t it? Like a dream slipping away the moment you open your eyes. I guess I’ll keep scrolling, questioning, and possibly forgetting. But who knows, maybe tomorrow I’ll remember to buy the milk. Or not. I don’t know.