The digital revolution is the dominant influencing factor in our lives today. It’s impact is so great that the whole of next week will be dedicated to digital mastery. 

But before we get to that, let’s take a bit of a detour and talk about diet… 

Information: food for your mind

The previous post introduced the striking similarities between food and information. 

Just like nutrient-rich food nurtures your body, wisdom-rich information nurtures your mind. And of course, on the dark side, we find empty calories and empty information. 

The good, the bad, and the useless

Distinguishing between good and bad information is easy:

If it takes your mind to creative places that can genuinely benefit your life (or the lives of others), it’s good. If it gets you stuck in a distressed or distracted state with no positive outcome, it’s bad. 

Good information is like nuts, seeds and berries – super tasty and very good for you. Bad information is like a tub of cheap ice cream – not really all that great, but for some reason you can’t stop eating. 

And then there’s the useless. This is the mindless flipping through TV channels, the purposeless scrolling on Facebook or the random YouTube adventures. It’s primary cost is time. 

In terms of our food analogy, useless information is like filler carbs – not good, not bad, just there. And just like filler carbs, too much of it can crowd out your capacity to consume the good stuff.  

Treat your information like food

This analogy is very interesting to play with in day-to-day life.

Does the information you consumed today remind you more of a green salad or a deep-fried doughnut?

Are there perhaps some signs of addiction to your deep-fried doughnut digital treats? Or perhaps an information snacking problem? Do you know where to find the green salads of information?

All these questions will resurface when we tackle the digital revolution next week…