Talking here about books, ebooks, movies, tv, etc. Regardless of how you personally obtain this content (did someone mention torrents?) there is a MASSIVE amount of really easily available content these days (from all over the world), I think no doubt more so now than ever in history.

(In ancient times someone who owned 100 books and had read them would be a leading intellectual.)

So we can easily get content that to "consume" would take several lifetimes. I mean content we would actually WANT to consume which is obviously perhaps a small percentage of ALL the content available. Still several lifetimes for those of us who enjoy content. Also, the NEWLY CREATED CONTENT keeps coming! Fast. While you still haven't taken a stab at the OLD content.

Is this a cause of STRESS for people?

So much content, so little time. This is a little different than information overload which is another modern issue.

I am almost literally paralyzed sometimes when I have to choose from over a thousand movies/documentaries/TV series and MVs, thousands of books (paper or electronic), and thousands of songs all at my fingertips (thanks to my digital technology and a few T bytes of hard disk)

Yes, it actually is a problem. But (like I used to say way back in the days when I had too many attractive women in my life) as problems go, it's a pretty nice one.

Ain't civilisation grand.....[for some]?

Maybe start out with those "100 books"?

Then maybe sort out some "review" oriented publications; New York Times Sunday Book Review; Empire, etc. Or a general weekly like The New Yorker which has music, dance, theatre, film, book and TV reviews? All of which help you to identify and filter material. In some ways it seems easier and less stressful than ever?

edited to add: I do miss a lot of stuff I end up finding years later.