Emotional Bandwidth¶

What it is: The loosest, most workplace-casual of the six — not a formally coined theory with a named originator, but a widely-used metaphor borrowed from computing/networking (bandwidth = a channel's finite data-carrying capacity) and applied to emotional/attentional capacity.

How it's used¶

"I don't have the emotional bandwidth for this today" — meaning: not a permanent limit, not tied to illness or disability, just a here-and-now statement that your current capacity to engage, empathize, or absorb more input is low. It's become common in therapy-adjacent and corporate-wellness language.

How it differs from spoon theory and compassion fatigue¶

• No specific origin or community — it emerged gradually through general use of "bandwidth" as a metaphor for capacity (itself borrowed from tech/telecom terminology), rather than being introduced in one canonical essay the way spoon theory was.
• Lower stakes, more casual — spoon theory carries real weight in disability communities as a serious explanatory tool; "emotional bandwidth" is now common enough in office small talk ("no bandwidth this week") that it's lost most of its metaphorical vividness and functions almost as corporate jargon.
• Not disability-specific — anyone can claim low emotional bandwidth on a given day without implying chronic illness; it's the most "universal, temporary" version of the finite-capacity idea, whereas spoon theory specifically encodes the experience of a fixed, unusually low daily allotment.

How it relates to LOGAF¶

Ironically, "I don't have the bandwidth to argue about this" functions almost exactly like declaring a low LOGAF — it tells the other person not to expect a defended position, just without Dan Lew's explicit vocabulary.