The Information Diet

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Nov 17, 2013 ... diet, a healthy information diet has consequences that not only can reduce stress but also may help us live longer, happier lives.” The Fat of the ...
The Information Diet A Case for Conscious Consumption

by Clay A. Johnson O'Reilly © 2012 150 pages

Focus Leadership & Management Strategy Sales & Marketing Finance Human Resources IT, Production & Logistics Small Business Economics & Politics Industries Global Business Career & Self-Development Concepts & Trends

Take-Aways • Too much food and too much information are both bad for your health. • The problem isn’t “information overload,” but “information overconsumption.” • Consuming excess information negatively affects your attention span and stress levels. • Internet providers use technology to monitor your online behavior so they can tailor information to fit your preferences and send you more. • Fox News president Roger Ailes revolutionized cable news with his unique approach to programming and his understanding that viewers want their beliefs confirmed. • Objectivity is no longer the standard many writers and editors follow. • Americans’ trust in TV news has plummeted by nearly 50% since 1993. • “Agnotology” describes an intentional effort to present fiction as fact. Numerous media outlets employ this tactic today, threatening the existence of quality journalism. • Information obesity is often characterized by an unhealthy, sedentary lifestyle. • If you are a hearty consumer, try to reduce your media and computer use to less than six hours daily. Start slow. At first, try cutting 30 minutes of exposure a week.

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Relevance What You Will Learn In this Abstract, you will learn:r1) Why consuming too much information is unhealthy; 2) How information and communication have changed over time; and 3) How to become a more aware information consumer. Recommendation The remarkable developments of the digital age easily become overwhelming. From laptops to iPads to Twitter to Bluetooth, consumers have a greater ability to communicate and access information today than at any time in history. But being plugged in can seem like a form of slavery if you feel compelled to click on every email, respond to every text message, or spend hours monitoring multiple websites and watching YouTube videos. Just as a diet of chocolate chip cookies and tortilla chips can lead to obesity, consuming too many empty calories of information can compromise your mental health. Political communications expert Clay A. Johnson, who managed the online part of President Barack Obama’s first campaign for the White House, explains how to be a selective data consumer and protect your peace of mind. getAbstract recommends his self-protective tactics to anyone who’s ready to adopt a more discerning approach to information consumption. His advice can help you lower the level of technological noise buzzing around your head and improve your concentration and productivity. If you feel inundated by the volume of material on the web, step back, take a deep breath, and formulate a strategy to use the good stuff and leave the rest behind.

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“Today, you’re likely to spend upwards of 11 hours per day consuming information.”

The Fat of the Land Dieting is one of America’s favorite pastimes. Roughly 20,000 books on weight loss are in print, and hundreds more hit the bookshelves every month. According to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, obesity rates in the US have accelerated since 1990, even though almost everyone knows the dire health consequences of being overweight. Food manufacturers are happy to oblige consumers’ preferences for products laden with sugar, salt and fat. Food has become highly processed, less nutritious and cheaper to produce. Food consumption and information consumption are remarkably similar. Computer technology provides access to an infinite amount of information from countless sources. Like food, some of it is tasty and nutritious, but a great deal of it is filled with empty calories that weigh you down and clog your mental arteries.

“Much like a healthy food diet, a healthy information diet has consequences that not only can reduce stress but also may help us live longer, happier lives.”

Information Transformation Just as Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of moveable type in the 15th century signaled a revolutionary change in the transmission of information, personal computers and the Internet have created an unprecedented transformation in the 21st century. The world is literally at your fingertips. Technology invites you to communicate in seconds with someone on the other side of the globe. Smartphones are commonplace; worldwide, some five billion people have cellphones. Such advances produce extraordinary opportunities, though they also create fear and misgivings. Some critics worry about the Internet’s effect on morality and its threat to the The Information Diet

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“The responsibility for healthy consumption lies with human technology, in the software of the mind.”

“Information consumption makes you sedentary, and, sometimes, it ruins your sense of time. Being sedentary is bad for your health.”

safety of women and children. For many respected journalists and intellectuals, however, the primary issue is how the “information explosion” affects people’ s intelligence and attention span. One former newspaper executive compared Facebook’s addictive qualities to crystal meth. In his book, The Filter Bubble, Eli Pariser suggests that personalization poses the greatest web-based danger to individual users. He explains that your web activity creates a trail that enables content providers to tailor material specifically for you and to expose you only to “homogenized” information with which you already agree. This does not mean content providers are engaging in conspiracies; they are merely responding to what people click on and what they don’t. Ultimately, as a consumer, you are responsible for seeking as much balanced information as you want.

All Tweeted Out People frequently complain that they can’t keep up with their email, tweets, notifications, alerts and must-watch TV programs. They find the quantity of information on the Internet and the lure of their multiple electronic devices overwhelming and exhausting. In reality, the issue is not overexposure or access but individuals’ behavior as responsible, selfprotective consumers. Just as you make a conscious decision not to eat fried chicken or smoke cigarettes, so, too, can you make intelligent, educated choices about your “information diet.” Consumers are responsible for learning more efficient methods of digesting data. Spam filters and similar software have their place, but intelligent consumption requires a behavioral shift. The consumer must take responsibility for determining what is beneficial and what to ignore.

“As information becomes more and more tailored, it becomes harder for us to resist pursuing it, and our attention banks carry smaller and smaller balances.”

“Just like a normal, healthy food diet, an information diet is not about consuming less; it’s about consuming right.”

That’s Entertainment In making Fox News the US’s top-rated cable news channel, Roger Ailes, a former adviser to President Richard Nixon, applied a formula that became wildly successful and revolutionized the industry. Ailes, at the helm since Fox News launched in 1996, cultivated a politically conservative viewpoint for the channel and found that it resonated with millions of viewers. Ailes knew what he was doing, and he recognized the critical need for hiring terrific on-air talent, but he pulled ahead of the pack based on how well he understood his audience. Most crucially, Ailes understood that audience members want to hear reports that affirm what they already believe. This trend has continued as contemporary TV reporters churn out material intended to deliver solid ratings and handsome profits instead of seeking objective truth. After all, publicly owned media corporations are obligated to earn maximum revenue for their shareholders. On its website, Fox alters story headlines from the Associated Press and other providers to appeal to its conservative followers. The idea is not to promote a political ideology but to entice readers to click on stories and uncover more advertising. Fox News is by no means the only website to employ this practice. AOL, for example, sets a goal for its writers of producing stories that will generate a 50% gross margin in advertising profit. AOL sets four content goals, but “editorial quality” is the least important, ranking behind “traffic potential, revenue potential” and “turn-around time.” One former AOL writer recalled having 25 minutes “to research and write about a show I had never seen.” The Information Diet

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“The websites of all content providers are designed to keep you reading and to expose you to the most advertising impressions possible.”

“Journalists often become more filters than reporters, succumbing to the torrents of spin heading their way.”

“Through the tests of trial and error, our media companies have figured out what we want and are giving it to us.”

While the number of US journalism jobs continues to decline, the public relations field is expanding. Journalists working under increasing pressure use large chunks of PR verbiage in their stories instead of conducting traditional news reporting. In 2009, independent filmmaker Chris Atkins tested the system and succeeded in planting fake PR stories in several UK newspapers. Reporters did not check his facts or sources before publishing his puffery.

The Wrong Stuff In 1993, 46% of Americans responding to a Gallup poll indicated that they had a “great deal of confidence” in TV news. That number has plummeted to 27%, mainly because consumers are ingesting inaccurate information or receiving only information that supports their viewpoints. The major tobacco companies also understood the power of propaganda. They intentionally misled the American public in the late 1960s in response to damning evidence that smoking damages health. Big Tobacco funded research that said cigarettes could prevent Alzheimer’s disease and could have a positive effect on the human immune system. The truth about smoking is no longer in question. But global warming continues to be a hotly contested issue even though climate scientists concurred in 2007 that the phenomenon is “unequivocal” and man-made. According to the Guardian newspaper, in 2007 major corporations such as ExxonMobil and Phillip Morris underwrote a think tank that offered funding to experts who would refute climate change theories. Stanford University historian Robert Proctor coined the phrase “agnotology” to describe such intentional efforts to mislead the public by presenting fiction as fact.

The Dangers of Being Dormant Overweight people are inclined to be sedentary. Inactivity can also be a symptom of information obesity. In both instances, science has proven that long periods of idleness are unhealthy. Many people sit for hours in front of their computers, transfixed and unaware of how quickly time is passing. New emails and similar notifications provide a jolt of feel-good dopamine in the brain, almost compelling you to continue your search for information. With so many stimuli vying for your attention – advertisements, links, Facebook, emails, Twitter, cellphones – distraction has become the norm rather than the exception. People struggle to maintain their concentration, and short-term memory loss is becoming more pronounced. Information obesity can also cause you to limit your personal contacts to those who share similar political and sociological viewpoints. For instance, if you are an ardent Democrat, it’s unlikely that your Facebook page will include many Republican connections, and vice versa. Even your choice of a cellphone can arouse prejudicial sentiments in those who believe their technological pick is superior.

“To make sense of politics, we need to delve underneath what our news outlets are telling us and into the data that makes politics tick.”

Change for the Better Like a food diet, embarking on an information diet requires making fundamental changes that will result in better health, an improved outlook and a more manageable lifestyle. The information diet will require you to incorporate the following components: •

Internet know-how – Google and Bing are more than just general search engines. They can help you access legal documents, scientific research papers and political news. Learn how to use advanced search methods, but remember that many excellent information resources are accessible outside the major search engines. Read any

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information on the Internet with a critical eye. Seek objectivity. Make sure your sources are credible and don’t have hidden agendas. “If we start to change our information consumption habits, the whole market will change to follow suit.”

“The result of going on a healthy information diet is better health and a better life.”



Measurement – Use RescueTime, a software program that tracks your Internet use and measures your productivity. You can tag websites that help you in your job and mark others that hinder your performance. For clarity, examine your workspace and computer and eliminate distractions, such as ringing cellphones, instant messaging and email notifications. Twitter does not have to be your constant companion. Find a program, such as Sanebox, that will extract unimportant emails from your inbox.



Interval training – Improve your attention span by working in five-minute intervals, separated by one-minute breaks when you can do what you wish, except for checking your email. Try this method five times in an hour, then get up and move around for a minute or two. Return to your desk, do three more repetitions, then check your email. Once you feel comfortable with this routine, increase your work intervals. You should find that your attention span is increasing and that you are wasting a lot less time.



Laugh a little...or a lot – Getting caught up in the seriousness of the world is easy, yet it’s critically important to have a sense of humor. Laughter is good for you. Being able to laugh at yourself – and how you feel about things – lends valuable perspective.

Trim the Fat Dieters tend to avoid buying or storing fattening foods that provoke the greatest temptation. Someone who is serious about losing weight will not have ice cream in the freezer or fried chicken in the refrigerator. The same principle applies to the information diet; you must eliminate empty informational calories and limit your choices. “The key is to find an information diet that works for you. [Michael] Pollan’s ‘Eat. Not too much. Mostly plants’ exhortation is a helpful framework but not a strict diet.”

“Here’s my rendition: Consume deliberately. Take in information over affirmation.”

Cancel your satellite TV or cable service. Watch YouTube, Netflix and Hulu instead. Cable and satellite are too tempting and can sabotage your information diet. You’ll save significant money without them. Measure your daily information consumption; if you are a hearty consumer, try to reduce your exposure to around six hours a day. But don’t go cold turkey. Cut your consumption by half an hour every week until you’ve attained a manageable amount of time, considering your objectives and your profession. You may find that having extra, unconnected hours is a bit unsettling at first, so fill your time productively. Take up a hobby, exercise more, or spend additional time with your partner or kids. Try to become more involved with local issues that affect your life. Everyblock is a website that provides local information for residents of many cities across the US. You can access real estate transactions and police reports or post messages to neighbors to facilitate dialogue. Your city may also have a “data catalog” that you can use to get access to the web and to stay informed. Above all, strive for variety in your information. Be open to a mix of perspectives, even if you disagree or some ideas make you uncomfortable. “Conscious consumption” requires you to seek different opinions and viewpoints. Don’t build a wall around yourself. Recognize the value of diversity and maintain a balanced information diet.

About the Author Clay A. Johnson managed Barack Obama’s online campaign for the presidency in 2008 and directs Sunlight Labs at the Sunlight Foundation. The Information Diet

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