Alert Fatigue
Alert Fatigue (n.) When too many alerts train people to ignore all of them — including the real ones.
Explanation
Every false positive teaches the team that alerts do not matter. After enough false positives, the team stops responding. The real alert arrives and gets the same treatment: ignored.
Operational Example
A security team receives 400 alerts per day. They investigate 20. The breach comes through alert number 387 — marked low priority by a rule nobody has reviewed in two years.
Why It Matters
Alert fatigue is not a technology problem. It is a signal-to-noise problem that erodes human judgment over time.
What Most Teams Get Wrong
They add more alerts thinking more coverage means more safety. It means more noise.
What Strong Teams Do Differently
Fewer alerts, higher confidence. Every alert must have an owner and a response time. Unowned alerts get deleted.