Not all content is equal.

Some nourishes you.

Some rots you.

Why This Matters:

Modern content isn't made. It's engineered. Crafted to control your attention. So it's important to be mindful of your media diet.

Avoid junk content. Have more whole content.

The Backstory:

I was one of the first generations to grow up in a world with screens, social media and shorts. There was no one to guide us through it. So mistakes were made and lessons were learnt.

My daughter is growing up in the same digital world. But she has me to guide her. I can prepare her with the right tools so she can avoid the mistakes my generation made.

The Framework That Can Help:

Your media diet is just as important as your food diet.

Understand the difference between different types of content and what they do to you. Then eat accordingly.

Here's what I'm teaching her about it:

There's 2 types of content:

1. Fruit content

2. Sweet content

Fruit content is good for you.

It nourishes your brain just like fruit nourishes your body.

Think books, articles and podcasts that expand your brain.

Sweet content is bad for you.

It rots your brain just like sweets rot your teeth.

Think shorts, click bait and endless scrolling that numbs your brain.

Sweet content gives you false highs.

Sweet content makes you feel good in the short term.

Binge too much and you end up in a state of restless rest. Tired but on edge. A drained brain but overstimulated nerves.

But fruit content does the opposite.

It lights your brain up. Greases the cogs of cognition. Ideas pop up like stars in the night.

Your brain is like a muscle.

If you're not working it, you're weakening it.

Sweet content numbs your brain. Do you know that feeling you get when you stop scrolling? That wonder about where the time went? Apps have been engineered to do just that. Make you lose track of time. So you scroll for longer.

You can't remember because behind every app there's a team designing features that make you mindless, blank, zombie like even, just scrolling away.

The long term effects of this are looking scary.

A recent study in China found high short form video consumption was linked to changes in the areas of the brain responsible for impulse control, reward processing and decision making.

This means too much sweet content is making us more reactive, less disciplined and poorer at making decisions. Add that all up and it's a bad recipe for dealing with life.

On the other hand, Fruit content makes your brain work.

Reading rewires your brain. Research shows how regular reading increases brain size and neural connections. Each page read is a rep towards a bigger, stronger and more resilient brain.

A stronger, resilient brain puts you in prime position for dealing with life.

If You Remember One Thing:

Be more mindful with your inputs.

Processed junk is everywhere. It's cheap and easily accessible and feels good for a moment. But it does nothing but rot you in the long run.

Rich, nourishing content takes a bit more effort to find. It doesn't feel as good in the short term. But in the long term you'll feel better, think better and be better.

Enjoyed this?

Share it with a friend. And if you’d like more thoughts like these, subscribe below.