Information Diet
Definition
You are what you consume. This applies to information as much as food. Most people consume 2+ hours daily of low-quality information: news designed to trigger outrage, social media optimized for engagement, endless feeds that leave you anxious and informed about nothing actionable.
When This Applies
- You spend hours consuming content but can’t recall anything useful by evening
- You feel anxious or overwhelmed after browsing news or social media
- You want to replace low-value information habits with high-value sources
- You’re building a curated information diet and need criteria for what to include
The Problem
Information junk food:
- News (optimized for fear and outrage, not usefulness)
- Social media feeds (optimized for engagement, not value)
- Notifications (optimized for app engagement, not your priorities)
The costs:
- Attention fragmentation
- Anxiety from things you can’t control
- Time displacement from high-value activities
- Illusion of productivity (“staying informed”)
The Pareto Principle for Information
80% of value comes from 20% of sources. Identify your 20% and eliminate the rest.
| Information Type | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Books | High | Curated, edited, in-depth |
| Long-form articles (trusted sources) | High | Researched, contextual |
| Direct communication | High | Actionable, relevant |
| Breaking news | Low | Rarely affects your actions |
| Social media feeds | Low | Optimized for engagement, not value |
| Most newsletters | Low | Accumulate unread |
The FOMO Antidote
If something is truly important, it will reach you. Through friends, through conversation, through the world around you. You don’t need to monitor everything.
The anxiety of missing out is worse than actually missing out.
Cross-Domain Applications
| Domain | High-Value Input | Low-Value Input |
|---|---|---|
| Health | Research papers, expert books | Supplement ads, fad diets |
| Wealth | Annual reports, index data | Daily market news, hot tips |
| Social | Deep conversations | Social media scrolling |
| Meaning | Books, reflection | Motivational content |
Related
- Curate Information Protocol : The executable steps
- Constraints : Attention as finite resource
- Attention Economics : The broader framework
Consume information like you consume food: intentionally, in moderation, and only the good stuff.