We currently live under extremely heavy information overload. Constantly, day by day, 24/7.
I'm fairly sure this is intentional.
For example, average lifespan of Reddit post is about a day, maybe a bit more. All of social media is constantly regurgitating the same points over and over, arguing about the same topics over and over again, ad infinitum. Which is exactly the point of it all. Create overload so heavy and intense, that nothing really matters anymore.
Human mind is incapable to operate properly under such pressure. There's tons of info unloaded into our heads daily. Good info, bad info. Wholesome info, unwholesome info. Most importantly, lots of it. Hell, I can't even remember when was the last time I was actually bored. Like, not intentionally going out to touch grass or consciously avoiding media, but simply bored... with nothing to do. That kind of thing simply does not happen anymore. There is no reflection, no idle thinking about this or that, unless one consciously decides to do that.
That's the reason why instead of relying on facts, logic, rationality and common sense, most people simply give up and resort to trusting some kind of authority. For some it is government or science. For others it could be some kind of new-age guru or some other truth sayer. It does not matter. What matters is that people have outsourced their reason to someone else. Which is exactly how they want it to be.
In Soviet Russia one single article criticizing the government could travel underground from hand to hand for years. It would be read and reread. It would be illegally reprinted or even rewritten by hand. These days, however, a single article no matter how truthful or how damaging does not mean anything. Hell, even ten or hundred articles mean almost nothing. Everything is being reduced to screaming contest. Whoever makes the loudest or most authoritative scream wins.
TLDR: Constant informational buzz is a psyop of sorts. It is being created intentionally in order to suppress clear and rational though process, to prevent masses from thinking for themselves.
Oh, yes, attention span is a big part ot it. To make it as short as possible is also one of the goals of this constant flood of information.
Of course some people will be more inclined to think deeply and some others won't. The point is that it's the general direction what matters. Currently general direction is to think as little as possible up to the point where all your critical thinking is essentially outsourced to someone else. Sure, some people will resist it (like us), but most won't and that's the real purpose of it all.
Yep, I too am kind of a know everything a bit guy (except that impalement thing of yours) and I too prefer to find information on my own.
Also, one other thing I didn't mention in OP is energy consumption. In addition to fucking up our brains, this information overload consumes enormous amounts of energy. Consider all that gigantic amount of energy poured into endless screaming contests and repeating the same things over and over again on a daily basis. Imagine what could be achieved if not for this waste of energy.
Basically, fruitless non-stop consumption and generation of information is just as they want it to be. Masses are too exhausted and brain fog from constant info buzz is too heavy for any meaningful change to happen.