Rambling About Media Consumption
Good morning. This was written last night, exhausted and nearly asleep. It's a rambling mess, but I like it, and feel like posting it. Feel free to skip it if thinking-out-loud rambles aren't your thing.
I have a problem.
Multiple really.
Well. Isn't life just a never ending list of problems until you get the one big one that can't be solved?
shrug
Right now, I have a problem with my conception of media... stuff.
I can't even define my problem. Which means I have another problem.
It's okay. I write to think, so that's why I'm here. To solve some problems.
Did I just solve the meaning of life problem?
Doubtful.
Anyways.
Media.
I have a tenuous relationship with it.
I know it's bad for me. I know my relationship with it is harmful. But I don't know what to do about it.
I do media fasts every once in a while. They have different flavors. Last year I did a full fast for the month of January. This year I'm doing a no algorithms fast for all of 2026. It's going well so far. It's nice not being pulled by the algorithm. But, really not much has change. I'm still able to doomscroll here and there, and I still pull the refresh slot machine lever looking for new things to consume.
So what if an algorithm feeds me. I can gorge myself without any help, thank you.
There's a Hank Green video that's been stuck in my head for a few months now. In it, he disregards the metaphor of the social internet being cigarettes on the merit that it's not all bad and cigarettes are all bad. Instead, he presents the metaphor of food and junk food. The social internet, and information generally, are simply food. The problem is corporations who have made things hyperpalatable with the intent of extracting as much of your attention as possible.
That's all well and good, and makes sense. I agree with the video.
But, Hank has titled it something like, 'You aren't addicted to content. You're starving for information.' And like... no?
Maybe I'm dumb and it's clickbait.
But I really can't get behind that title. And it doesn't feel like what his video is about.
So, I'm stuck in this loop of remembering the video and it's title and being like, no I don't think that's right. So I watch the video and come away thinking, eh that was fine, I agree with what he has to say.
But I'm still left with no real understanding of what I'm supposed to do.
I'm also left with all of my same questions about media/information consumption.
These questions really boil down to, what does a healthy information diet look like?
I'm on board with the junk food metaphor. TikTok is candy. Got it.
But like, what information is vegetables?
How much information do we actually need?
I can cut out all of the corporation connected tricks used to hack my brain, but at the end of the day, my brain still wants more. Why?
Am I starving for information? Where can I find it?
We live in information overload. I don't think the problem is starvation.
I just don't know what to do.
I don't even know really how to think about this.
I had a thought earlier today that healthy information is actionable information.
Like, news happening on the other side of the world is meaningless to me. I can't do anything about it. So why do I keep refreshing to 'stay informed'. The fudge does that even mean!? Do I need to be informed? Does it do anything for me?
I think it just makes me sick. I think...
I think it just clicked. Well, one thing did.
It's a real simple thing. If there's money involved, it's bad for me and I'm being tricked. Simple as that.
Learning and knowing things is good, but like the moment there's a buck to me made, we're getting scammed.
But that's also a bit nebulous. Looking at the headlines of text.npr.org doesn't really have any transaction involved. They aren't making money on me. I guess they'd like me to subscribe, but I won't. What about hackernews? They aren't making any money off of me.
There's something more to it.
In his video, Hank mentions that, like with food, our information abundance is relatively new. We're running on old software designed to gather as much information as possible because it was scarce and useful for our survival. Now that we have unlimited information we can't stop consuming.
So, now we just get overloaded. What I want to nail down is how much (or how little) information is actually needed to survive? Like, the recommended daily calorie count is about 2000 calories. What's the recommended daily information requirements.
And, maybe more importantly. What kind of information is required?
I think where Hank's food metaphor breaks down is where bad information isn't just hyperpalatable junk food. Some (most) of it is straight up poisonous.
Information that gives you anxiety is poison. It's not helping you survive at all.
So how much information is too much? What kinds of information do we actually need?
Those are the questions I want to answer.
I guess that's one problem solved...
But, one other question that's even more fundamental I guess is why is information necessary and/or is it necessary at all?
Needing to consume information online is treated as a forgone conclusion. Everyone is questioning how to do it healthily and avoid the junk. But what if the answer is to just not do it at all. Maybe the social internet is cigarettes and it's all bad? Or at least the good isn't worth the risk just like a nicotine high.
Then, what specifically is the problem? Is it the internet? So offline information solves the problem? Is the problem with information in general?
I guess I'm back to how much and what kind again.
Huh.
I guess I just needed to clarify that 'none' should be a valid option when asking how much is needed.
In letting my mind wander on this topic, I thought to look up the history of humanity's interaction with information.
This led me to three books and an outdated web page.
Two of the books are the same book with one being an abridged version of sorts. The other looks alright. I have yet to really look at the web article.
My next step will be to look over that article and see if it has merit. But beyond that, I think I'm going to read Information: A Short History, take notes, and see what I can get from it.
It's kinda funny that in my quest to understand what it means to have a healthy relationship with information I end up turning to a book.
I could easily riff and say books are the best because they are slow and thorough. I could make the comparison between A.I. summaries being fast food and books being a nice home cooked meal. But that's too easy, I don't know if it's actually True. It feels right, but is it capitol 'T' True?
shrug
Time to read this academic looking book.
But first, I'll go to bed.
We can read tomorrow.
Actually, maybe I'll just hit publish on this nonsense and then do a proper review of the book later.
I kinda like that idea.
But that's for morning me to decide.
Goodnight.
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