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Too much: a quiet screen for sensory overload

Sometimes the lights, the noise, the people and the things to decide add up to more than you can take in. This page gives you a dark, still screen with one short line at a time, fifteen ways to take one thing away, and a place to write, on a calmer day, what overload is like for you and what helps.

Private by design. Nothing you type is sent anywhere. The quiet screen and the ideas keep nothing. Your plan is kept in this browser on this device from the moment you press Keep my plan, and one button erases it. This page runs no analytics or tracking. How we handle privacy. Anyone who uses this browser on this device can read your plan, so on a shared or public computer print it and use Erase everything before you go.

If you are thinking about ending your life or hurting yourself, call or text 988 (in the U.S.) now, or open Get help now. If someone is in danger or badly hurt, call 911.

The quiet screen and the plan need JavaScript. Without it: turn the screen brightness down or put the phone face down, cover your ears or go somewhere quieter, loosen anything tight, move away from other people if you can, and put off every decision that can wait. You do not have to talk right now.

Good to know

How it works

Open the quiet screen covers the whole window with a dark screen and one short line. Next and Back change the line. Nothing moves, nothing flashes and nothing makes a sound.
Show a note to someone, on the quiet screen, turns it into a note in large letters that says you are overloaded, cannot talk right now and are not in danger.
Take one thing away lists fifteen small ideas under light, sound, touch, people and things to decide.
My overload plan has five boxes for a calmer day. What you write under What helps is the first line the quiet screen shows you. What you write in the last box is added to the note.
Print my plan makes one sheet to keep or to hand to someone.

What this page can’t do

It cannot dim your screen, lower the volume or stop alerts. Turn the brightness down and switch on Do Not Disturb yourself. Your phone may still dim or lock while the quiet screen is open.
It is not treatment or therapy, and it does not diagnose anything.
It cannot promise that any of this will help. People differ, and an idea that calms one person bothers another. Skip what does not suit you.
It does not know where you are. If where you are is not safe, getting safe comes before getting quiet.
Your plan does not move to another phone or computer by itself. Print it, download it, or use My data on this device to carry a backup across.

What we mean by overload

Sensory overload is an everyday name, not a diagnosis. People use it for the point where what is coming in through the eyes, ears, skin and nose, on top of people and demands, is more than they can sort. Many autistic people and people with ADHD describe it. So do people who are worn out, in pain, short of sleep or under a lot of stress. You do not need a diagnosis to use this page.

Going quiet, leaving the room, covering your ears or not being able to answer are ways of coping with it. They are not bad behaviour.

Many people say they are tired afterwards, sometimes for the rest of the day. If you can, keep the next few hours light.

When it is a question for a doctor

Light or sound that starts to hurt in a way that is new for you, or that comes with a very bad headache, a fever, a stiff neck, confusion, or after a hit to the head, is a question for a doctor or nurse and not for this page. If it looks like an emergency, call 911. See also After a hit to the head.

If overload keeps getting in the way of work, school or home, a doctor is a place to start, and Ask for what helps you work has letters for asking for changes.

If you are with someone who is overloaded

Use fewer words and a lower voice. One short sentence at a time.
Do not touch them unless they have told you that touch helps.
Turn down what you can: a light, the TV, the music.
Ask nothing that needs an answer now. Questions can wait.
Stay close if they want you there, and give them room if they do not. Then wait. It passes.

If they may hurt themselves or someone else, or you cannot tell whether this is a medical emergency, call 911.

About this site’s own moving parts

The top of every page on this site has lines of text that move. The Pause motion button in that bar stops them and the choice is remembered. The quiet screen covers them completely while it is open.

These are everyday ideas in our own words. They are not advice from a clinician, and they do not suit everyone.

Tools that go with this

Speak for me: a board of messages in huge letters for when the words will not come, and a card to carry.
Breathe and ground: a slow circle to breathe with. It moves, so it is for when movement is fine.
Tense and release: loosen your body, one part at a time.
Energy budget: plan a day around the energy you have.
How I work: a one-page guide to you, for the people you work with.
When you wonder if it’s autism and When your attention won’t stay put: what each is, and where to get help.
All the free tools, and how to save them on your phone.

A quiet screen, not a fix. This page lowers what one screen sends at you and keeps what you write. It does not know you, and it does not replace a doctor, a therapist or anyone who does.

The tool, the quiet lines, the fifteen ideas and the wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The wording is our own, and it was not reviewed by a clinician or by autistic people. Also in Spanish: Demasiado; both pages keep the same plan on this device. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].