The Junk Information Diet
And a better path forward
Do a thought experiment with me:
Imagine a person, who every time they feel the tiniest hint of hunger, they snack on some junk food.
A little hunger… grab a bag of chips.
A little more… grab a candy bar.
Hmm, I haven’t eaten in awhile, let me get some fast food.
All day long, they eat high calorie, salty, fatty, unnaturally hyper-sweet foods.
They never let themselves get truly hungry.
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First, what would that do to their taste buds?
Well, anyone who has done an extended water fast will tell you that after three days of nothing but water, a bite of pineapple tastes as sweet as candy.
And simple foods like chicken, rice, veggies, taste amazing.
But eat an apple after eating a pack of skittles and the apple tastes like cardboard.
This person would overload their taste buds so much, they’d never want to eat the healthy foods.
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What would happen to their body?
Certainly they’d gain weight. But more importantly, although they were always full, their body would be starving for nutrients.
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And finally, what would happen when they sat down and tried to eat a big healthy meal of some broccoli, chicken, and rice? Well it would taste extremely bland, boring, and even if they managed to choke down the meal, they wouldn’t enjoy it.
More likely they’d throw it away and get some DoorDash.
Well, guess what?
This is what the vast majority of us are doing every day. Not with our actual diets, (although that’s also true), but with our information diet.
Think about it.
Instead of hunger it’s boredom, and instead of junk food, it’s junk information in the form of Tik Tok, Reels, and reality tv.
All day long, if we feel the tiniest hint of boredom we’re picking up our phone to snack on some junk. And when we get to the end of the day, our mind feels full, but we haven’t consumed anything of value.
And this junk information diet is doing just as much damage to our mind as junk food does to our body.
We’re becoming intellectually “fat”
People are losing the ability to think critically. If information isn’t spoon fed and delivered in a little 15-30 second short, it isn’t worth consuming. We’ve become the generation that reads the headline, but not the article. That goes on believing a myth for years, when a simple Google search would’ve shown the truth.
We’re losing our appetite for real information
After a 30 minute Tik Tok binge, try to sit down and read “The Laws of Human Nature” by Robert Greene. Hell, try to read anything really.
It won’t take long before you’re itching to check your phone, re-reading what you just read over and over, and giving up on the book altogether.
We feed our mind junk food all day long, then try to give it something meaningful and deep, and wonder why it won’t cooperate.
So what’s the solution?
We already know the answer… Stop consuming so much junk.
But it’s much easier said than done.
My ideal scenario would be to smash my phone to pieces and never look back, but since I can’t do that, I’m trying to make a few small changes like:
Deleting social media apps off my phone between uses.
Putting screen time limits on distracting apps.
In the case of Tik Tok, I don’t use it at all. And the less social media you can use… the better.
Leaving my phone in one place in the house, instead of carrying it to every room.
Setting aside time to intentionally be bored.
Time my reading and deep work so it’s early in the morning, or after a decent break from my phone, instead of doomscrolling, feeling guilty for doomscrolling, telling myself I should be productive, and then failing to be productive because I was just doomscrolling.
And most important, consume deep, thoughtful content. Books, articles, long lectures and podcasts, and deep intentional films.
Just like we can’t lose 50 lbs overnight, we can’t get our focus and stillness back that fast either.
But treat every day like a small workout. Another chance to strengthen your mind, feed it well, and exhibit self discipline and we’ll be well on the way.
Socrates said:
"It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable"
And how much more true is that of the mind?