Issue 29 |💡The Dangers of Information Addiction: Balancing Consumption and Creation
IoNTELLIGENCE is the Playbook for Professional Success, Personal Transformation, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
🚨 The Big Idea: We all consume too much content today. We should cut back, be more discerning, and leave space for creation.
🔧 What To Do Next: Follow the 4 Rules of Mindful Content Consumption.
🔬 Go Deeper: Read “Deep Work” and “Digital Minimalism.”
📖 Reading Time: 7 Minutes
“I think I’m addicted to podcasts.”
That’s what my friend Robbe was surprised to hear from an acquaintance the other day. The anecdote piqued my interest so much that, ironically enough, Robbe and I discussed it in depth on a podcast we taped together this week. If that sounds a bit meta, it is.
This notion of being gravitationally pulled towards consuming media - particularly informative material - resonated with me. I say all this as someone who consumes a LOT of audio content. I listened to over 330 podcast episodes last year (I’m such a nerd that I catalog them!), rationalizing the time spent - invested, I should say - as work-related. But the reality is this: podcast listening is a form of productivity p*rn. It feels constructive, but it’s only marginally so. It’s what I might call “work-adjacent.” You know what’s productive? Thinking. Teaching. Writing.
I’m an information addict. It takes all my self-discipline not to slip into my Air Pods and listen to the beginning of a podcast when I’m brushing my teeth in the morning. If I felt comfortable taking a shower in Pods, I’d no doubt bathe my mind in information while I washed my body. It feels weird to drive on LA freeways without the soothing sounds of my favorite hosts keeping me company.
Of course, this affliction isn’t limited to podcasts, though this particular medium lends itself perfectly to colonizing your waking life. Podcasts are so popular because you can do many other things—cleaning your house, walking your dog, riding your bike—while consuming them. However, the broader notion of information addiction is noteworthy right now because of the quality and quantity available today.
We live in a world of infinite content. If this isn’t already the case, it soon will be with the advent of AI-generated everything: text (Chat GPT), images (Dall-E), and now video (Sora AI). What’s worse is that there is so much good content out there, too, from books piling up like my friend Tom’s “To Read Tower” to excellent email newsletters that lie unopened or shunted into a “someday, maybe” folder (hopefully not this one!).
We are being offered an endless buffet of information—mostly, though not always, for “free.” But a price is being paid after all: all that content consumption comes at the cost of contemplation and creation. Technology, the Internet, and hyper-capitalism have combined to flood us with information at the expense of knowledge and anesthetize us with effortless consumption instead of more active invention.
We’re all information addicts now. But we don’t have to be.
🚨 The Big Idea
It’s not just you: we consume more information than ever. According to a 2022 report by the University of California, San Diego, the average American consumes 34 gigabytes (GB) of data and information each day, equivalent to around 100,000 words heard or read.
The problem is not just the volume of content on offer; it’s the ease with which we can access it. Our smartphones give us an infinite scroll of interesting, entertaining, and often addictive information. Instagram is just a click away, while the New York Times “The Daily” doesn’t even require you to take your phone out of your pocket. Indeed, a vast and growing content ecosystem serves us tantalizing information in exchange for harvesting our data and holding our attention. In this way, podcasts, YouTube, and especially TikTok have turned information into a consumer good.
It’s not just that we’re intentionally turning to these products, apps, and services the minute we get bored; it’s more insidious than that. We are now so addicted to constant stimulation that we need content as “background noise.” Have you noticed more of your friends having the TV on all the time when they’re at home? It’s a thing. A pundit even coined the term “Ambient TV” to describe the type of show - visually appealing, with limited plot complexity - that lends itself to playing on a loop. For some, it’s “Seinfeld” reruns; for others, it’s “Emily in Paris.” Blogger Casey Newton recently confessed that he works on his newsletters while having YouTube videos constantly unfurling on a second screen.
I guess he manages to think while being saturated with sights and sounds. But for most of us, one of the many consequences of the Content-as-Commerce industrial complex is that it squeezes out the cognitive space we need for creativity and deep thinking.
When we consume content constantly, we crowd out the attention, space, and sometimes boredom—we need to create.
The Tension between Consumption and Creation
I understand the seductive quality of being fed interesting information. I put it that way precisely because its passive nature points to why we find it so appealing. In the struggle between consuming and creating, the former will almost always win.
Consumption is a lean-back experience; creation requires leaning in.
Consumption is easy; creation is hard.
Consumption feels productive; creation is productive.
Consumption requires curiosity, which we have naturally. Creation involves discipline, which we need to cultivate.
When I contrast consuming with creating, I use the latter term loosely and not literally. I don’t mean to suggest you make a podcast instead of listening to one.
The critical distinction is between passive ingestion of information and a more active use of it. Even knowledge is of limited value if it’s not put into service in some way. For me, being “creative” with content can be as simple as sharing what you learned with someone else or reflecting on how that idea can be incorporated into your larger worldview.
Therefore, creation exists on a spectrum: on one end, it’s communicating the concept in some capacity, and on the other, it involves creating something—like a blog post—that develops and expands on that original idea.
We must learn to balance consumption and creation in a world of infinite content. Here are some tips that have worked for me.
🔧 What To Do Next
Expiring information is sexy, but it’s not knowledge. Ask yourself: Is it important? Or is it just interesting?
I fall into this trap all the time. My iPhone’s web browser is currently groaning under the weight of almost 500 open tabs - most of which are links to intriguing but inconsequential articles. We intuitively know the difference, but here’s an excellent razor to separate the titillating from the timeless. Is the information perishable or permanent? Another way of asking this is: will I care about this in a week, a year, or a decade from now? If not, the content is not enduring and, therefore, unimportant. So, pivot away from the hot takes and invest more time and attention in evergreen analysis.
Treat content as a menu, not a to-do list.
I have Oliver Burkeman to thank for this mindset shift. I used to regard my To Read pile as a project to be completed (someday), but of course, that was never going to happen. Now, it’s a list of options to sample, nothing more. This reframe has rid me of my guilt in not “finishing” my content pile, but it also helped me become more discerning in my consumption choices.
Create content boundaries.
I often tell my clients that you “train people on how to treat you.” That’s equally true for yourself. We have conditioned ourselves to check our phones the instant we feel boredom coming on. Fight the urge to fill every spare or dull moment with stimulation by setting some limitations: decide on “no content” times and places. Maybe it’s the first 15 minutes of a commute or the last 30 minutes before bed; force yourself to preserve space free from content - and you’ll be surprised how creative that time will eventually become.
Let me introduce you to Cal Newport's radical definition of solitude: it is achieved not when you are alone but when you are not being “influenced” by another person’s mind. In this framing, reading alone is neither solitude nor listening to a podcast. However, thinking about something while on a crowded metro is.
Seek out more of this solitude - when you are alone with only your thoughts.
Establish a content-to-creation (or at least contemplation) ratio.
I couldn’t go cold turkey on content, and I’d never ask you to. But we should create a more intentional balance between consumption and creation. Start by tracking how much time you spend with media, then try to move to a 3 to 1 ratio (if you read and listen to podcasts for 90 minutes, contemplate and “create” for 30). Initially, It’ll be challenging, but I bet you’ll edge towards a more even proportion.
We all consume too much content today. We should cut back, be more discerning, and leave space for creation.
🔬 Go Deeper & Get Smart Fast
If you have a few hours, 👓 “Deep Work” and “Digital Minimalism,” both by Cal Newport. If you can only read one, make it “Deep Work.” I read this back in 2017, and it completely changed the way I thought about the value and importance of sustained, distraction-free reflection.
If you have under 1 hour, 👓 this article on “attentional capital.”
If you have under 10 minutes, 👓 this life-changing blog post by Oliver Burkeman.
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