Tame Your Feed, Own Your Brain
The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption
by Clay Johnson
Self-Improvement
TL;DR
This book is your wake-up call to stop being a digital dumpster diver and start curating your online intake. It lays out actionable strategies to filter out the noise, identify what's actually worth your brain cells, and build healthier information habits so you don't end up a perpetually anxious, misinformed mess. It's basically a nutrition plan for your eyeballs and grey matter, teaching you to eat your digital veggies instead of endless TikTok scrolls.
Action Items
Go through your social media feeds and unfollow/mute five accounts that consistently make you feel worse or waste your time.
The next time you see a wild claim online, take 60 seconds to do a quick Google search and see if it holds up.
Pick one hour today where you intentionally put your phone on silent and leave it out of reach. Do something else, anything else.
Find one new, high-quality source (a podcast, a blog, a newsletter, a YouTube channel) related to a hobby or interest you have and actively seek out its content.
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Key Chapter
Chapter - The Digital Junk Food Epidemic
Ever feel like your brain is just a giant, overflowing trash can of random internet garbage? This chapter hits hard on how our constant scroll-fest isn't just annoying; it's actively making us dumber, more anxious, and less able to focus. It's like trying to run a marathon after only eating McDonald's for a month – you're 'full,' but completely malnourished and probably shitting yourself. The real kicker is that mindless digital consumption has serious real-world consequences for your mental health, your attention span, and even your ability to make decent life choices. Time to treat your brain like a VIP lounge, not a public toilet.
Key Methods and Approaches
Your Brain's Bouncer
(AKA: Conscious Consumption)
Description:
Stop letting every random piece of internet crap into your head.
Explanation:
Your brain is like a super exclusive club, and right now, you're letting every rando off the street waltz in and trash the place. This method is about hiring a bouncer – you – to check IDs and only let in the good vibes. No more letting clickbait articles and conspiracy theories do a keg stand in your cerebral cortex.
Examples:
Unfollowing that one influencer who always makes you feel bad
Unsubscribing from newsletters you never read
Muting group chats that are just endless drama
Deleting news apps that only feed you anxiety porn
Today's Action:
Go through your social media feeds and unfollow/mute five accounts that consistently make you feel worse or waste your time.
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