Humans love information even when it is bad for us. Study after study has shown that our species thrives when we are learning.[1] Information and our ability to learn has underpinned our growth as a species.
However, in Clay Johnson’s book The Information Diet, he adopts the view that many of today’s problems come from consuming too much information. Johnson claims our mental and physical health is being affected by the amount of information we consume. Everyone’s had that feeling before; it’s the feeling of binging a Netflix show, it’s the feeling of the Tik Tok rabbit hole, it’s the feeling of not being in control. Johnson argues we have become accustomed to binging information to the point where we might as well be eating a KFC bucket of data every day.
The premise
Johnson also suggests that like food, some information is tasty and nutritious, but a ‘great deal of it is filled with empty calories that weigh you down and clog your mental arteries.’ [2]
Studies have found that we spend up to 10 hours a day consuming information, which we have never done in history.[3]
Johnson argues that this oversupply is costing us dearly. There has been a recorded decrease in attention span and an increase in depression since the internet. Our sedentary lifestyle further compounds this. Human beings, for, centuries have had to deal with boredom, but now our brains are hard-wired to crave the dopamine created by apps.
The user experience now controls our lives. Take something as simple as the refresh button for most mobile apps; refreshing the is designed to simulate a slot machine lighting up our brain.[4] These techniques have caused addiction on a mass scale. Yet, we are all too much under the spell of information to realise. If you sat 10 hours in front of a poker machine, you’d be an addict, but if it’s an excel spreadsheet, you’re a hard worker. As a result, our physical and psychological health takes a hit because we can’t escape the rush of the user experience.
How to improve your approach
Johnson claims that we can break the cycle of addiction by treating information precisely as if we were about to embark on a diet to lose weight. Some of the techniques he recommends include:
- Measurement — Johnson believes that one of the reasons we binge information is because we actively don’t measure screen time. It would be the equivalent of going on a diet without checking the scales. Using timing apps can help with this but consider how those apps fit your entire day. For example, are you just recording Netflix time or work screen time as well?
- Interval training and breaks- have you tested your attention span recently? Think about interval training to boost your results. I recommend the Pomodoro timer to complete tasks. Use the pauses to refresh yourself. You can also use the free self-control app to prevent access to specific websites.
- Reduce access to applications- Think about what your pain points are when it comes to distraction. Every person has their poison. For some people, it’s Netflix. For others, it is email. Whatever it is, think about how you can reduce that information.
- Identify nutritional information — what information can improve your wellbeing? Consider reading or listening to music that isn’t trash (e.g. the Classics). You can compound this technique by reducing the time spent watching the news. Take a break. You don’t need to know everything!
- Social interaction- Meeting up with someone is always better than chatting online. The online slog of messaging can be painful and repetitive. Ask yourself, can we have this conversation in person?
Criticisms of the information diet
While the topic of information diets is intriguing, it does not come without its criticism. One of the significant challenges with information diets is the direct comparison to food. It is impossible to eat for 11 hours a day, but it is not impossible to work for that amount of time. Johnson’s food argument could be a false equivalency because the information is more readily consumable. You can easily sit 8 hours in front of a screen, but you may struggle to eat eight cakes. Therefore, his metaphor may not hold up in practice.
The second criticism is that if we isolate ourselves from information by going cold turkey, we ultimately could shut ourselves out from the rest of the world. Today many of our social interactions occur online, and if we shut off from them, we can end up as the hermit ostracised from society. People who delete social media apps sometimes feel this way. Hence, there are some valid concerns with Johnson’s argument.
Transitus approach
From a Transitus perspective, the issues raised by Johnson are ultimately valid. We spend far too much time in front of a screen. Even myself, I’m writing this on a screen after a long day in front of a computer. Our society mandates white-collar workers do this. From our economy to our love life, we can’t escape information. User experience focuses on gamifying and addicting people to data. The issue becomes whether businesses are willing to adopt practices that reduce our need to consume information.
However, we can take steps to change our habits, whether it’s bosses at work forcing people to get off their screens and meet for 10 mins or watching one less episode of Netflix. Our brains will thank us when we take a second to pause and realise what healthy and unhealthy information is.
[1] https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=jutlp
[2] https://www.amazon.com/dp/1449304680/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=1449304680&adid=1WCH70TCA3X9Z322SYMF&
[3] https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2020/09/26/global-online-content-consumption-doubled-in-2020/?sh=41313adc2fde
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/08/social-media-copies-gambling-methods-to-create-psychological-cravingsTransitus