information overload
TRANSCRIPT
What are you consuming?
And what is its effect on
your intellectual nutrition?
Scanning Tweets,
scrolling through
Facebook, hitting refresh
on news sites
Are you find yourself feeling like you have “information obesity”?
It’s pretty clear when you’ve consumed the wrong things in the
wrong amounts.
INFOBESITY
How do you start “eating
right” intellectually?
It’s a matter of being aware, and most
importantly, providing ourselves with
ready alternatives.
It starts with the realization that
browsing the web doesn’t necessarily
make you smarter, any more than eating
means you’re healthy.
Like most things it’s always a good idea to get
a baseline before your start changing your
habits. Start to try and get an idea of how
much you’re consuming. When doing this Clay
Johnson advises counting the stuff that
requires effort for you to consume – “anything
that involves a power button, page, switch, tap
or click”. He also suggests starting a media
journal to give you a hand.
1
Trying to go on an information diet with TV is “like
trying to go on a diet while subscribing to a daily fried
chicken and ice cream delivery service”, says
Johnson.
Cutting out cable does two things: reduces your
exposure to advertising, and reduces your ability to
“couch surf”.
Plus, it’s a ton cheaper! Just think of all the dollars
you’ll save by watching your TV through NetFlix,
Hulu, and Amazon.
2
Now we’re getting into the nitty gritty.
I’m sure you’ve heard the slogan “Eat Local” before, the
same applies to media consumption.
Start with things that are the most local to you: family
and friends, then local and professional communities,
then international, you get the idea.
3
Try to eliminate anything with a number associated with it.
Your inbox unopened number, notifications from Google +,
desktop notification pop-ups – get rid of them…all.
It’s about ending the battle for your attention on your computer.
Need some help getting this done? Well, Johnson offers a list of
tolls, tips, and resources to hep you out.
http://resources.informationdiet.com/tools.html
4
Step Five
Don’t consume information that would be
unrecognizable to your grandparents.
Try and avoid highly processed stuff and go straight to
the source.
Avoid news articles that don’t empower readers or
views with source materials and see out those materials
yourself.
Sources;
http://www.eatexerciselivedifferently.com/clean-optimize-information-diet/
http://blog.mindjet.com/2012/02/info-diet/
https://brianclaessonpatten.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/is-your-information-diet-well-balanced/
http://ecquire.com/blog/our-information-diet/