On average, I make about 1,000 images each month on my iPhone. That’s about 33.33333333333 (you get the idea) images a day. And that’s just in an average month; if I’m on vacation or on assignment, that number might double or even triple…

So how do I avoid getting buried alive in this endless stream of digital information of my own making?

What if I told you there was one word that could ease your digital overload?

Here it is: thoughtfulness.

Bedrooms are places of repose and rejuvenation… Why can’t they also be places of remembrance? That’s the idea behind a starkly beautiful new book, Bedrooms of the Fallen, by photographer Ashley Gilbertson.

“I remember going to the park at one point, and looking around … and seeing that everyone was on their phones … not taking photographs, but just — they had a device in their hands,” she recalls.

“I was like, ‘Oh, God, wait. Is this what it looks like?’ ” she says. “Even if it’s just a camera, is this how people see me? … Are [my kids] going to think of me as somebody who was behind a camera?”

There’s a technique that photographers call bokeh. This happens when the background of a picture is intentionally blurred, yet the main subject of the photo remains crisp and in focus.

Today’s digital advertising space is similar — the abundance of data makes it almost impossible to focus on the right thing. However, it’s imperative that we zero in on the proper audience and define the target of our advertising message. How do we find the subject to put into focus and identify the data that is most relevant to us and our goals? We must customize our efforts and adapt quickly.

It’s difficult to feel absorbed in a photo on a device with a 4-inch screen. Zooming in and exploring a photo bit by bit is no way to appreciate the photographer’s vision.

Of course, in the era of social media, every event has the potential to be documented. This is why we are subjected to the “Look! Our dog just pooped on our expensive Asian rug!” pics as well as the “I’m hungry, and this is the food I’m about to consume” pics.

At my day job, I need my work to appeal to a wide range of photographic IQs. But, with my street work, I guess I am aiming to please the photo literate and when, I make an image that is too popular, in a weird way, I don’t feel as good as when I make an image that only photographers like.

There is a perception that photojournalists are misery chasers who jump from story to story looking for the next big thing — war, famine, tsunami — and when the action is over, they fly home and wait for the next disaster. That’s last century’s photojournalist.