You are what you read

Somewhere (and either ironically or appropriately, almost certainly somewhere on Twitter), I was made aware of the fact that the vast majority of the content we consume on a daily basis is produced within the last twenty four hours.

Tweets, news articles, current affairs shows, radio, blog posts, podcasts, emails, text messages, etc… nearly everything we consume was created in the 24 hour period leading up to the moment of consumption.

Is that… healthy?

It’s almost certainly not optimal, surely.

Of all the knowledge and wisdom that has ever been produced, of every insight that has ever been shared, how likely is it that the most important or most useful for you to read right now would have been uncovered for the first time… yesterday? That very thought seems almost ludicrous to me.

Which is not to say that keeping abreast of current developments isn’t a sensible thing to do. Technology (and the society it influences so deeply) is changing more quickly now than at any moment in history. Things that were true last year are already out of date. There are plenty of good reasons to keep up with those developments, or to remain mindful of what’s happening in Ukraine, or the local elections.

But just as the old adage teaches that, physically, you are what you eat; I reckon intellectually, you are what you read.

If you let the world’s technology and media companies decide on your behalf what you consume (which is what happens, unless you make a very deliberate choice to do otherwise), you will be permanently surrounded by ideas that someone had yesterday.

Some may be entertaining, some may be interesting, and some may be topical… but very, very few of them will be of lasting value, nor help you build a better brain.