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The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption Hot

Editor rating

5.0

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January 14, 2012 206 0Add

The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption

Clay A. Johnson

Format

Hardcover

Number Of Pages, Discs, Etc.

160

Date Published

January 18, 2012

ISBN-10

1449304680

ISBN-13

9781449304683

ASIN

1449304680

The modern human animal spends upwards of 11 hours out of every 24 in a state of constant consumption. Not eating, but gorging on information ceaselessly spewed from the screens and speakers we hold dear. Just as we have grown morbidly obese on sugar, fat, and flour—so, too, have we become gluttons for texts, instant messages, emails, RSS feeds, downloads, videos, status updates, and tweets.

We're all battling a storm of distractions, buffeted with notifications and tempted by tasty tidbits of information. And just as too much junk food can lead to obesity, too much junk information can lead to cluelessness. The Information Diet shows you how to thrive in this information glut—what to look for, what to avoid, and how to be selective. In the process, author Clay Johnson explains the role information has played throughout history, and why following his prescribed diet is essential for everyone who strives to be smart, productive, and sane.

In The Information Diet, you will:

Discover why eminent scholars are worried about our state of attention and general intelligence
Examine how today’s media—Big Info—give us exactly what we want: content that confirms our beliefs
Learn to take steps to develop data literacy, attention fitness, and a healthy sense of humor
Become engaged in the economics of information by learning how to reward good information providers
Just like a normal, healthy food diet, The Information Diet is not about consuming less—it’s about finding a healthy balance that works for you

Editor reviews

The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption 2012-01-14 15:52:13 NCreviewer

Overall rating		5.0
Style		5.0
Content		5.0
Consciousness		5.0

Reviewed by NCreviewer January 14, 2012
Top 10 Reviewer - View all my reviews

Here's food for thought. Eighteen years ago, when I first learned about the impact factory farms were having on the environment and the quality of our food supply, I became vegetarian. It was a move both to protect my own health and make a tiny economic protest against the state of the food industry.

A decade later, I was thrilled to see the rise of the "local and organic" movement, spurred on (at least in part) by pop-culture hits like Supersize Me and Omnivore's Dilemma. Today, I have 4 farmer's markets to choose from on the weekend; local, farm-raised and/or vegetarian options at nearly every restaurant in town; and a whole range of organic products at my local Safeway. It's not happening overnight, but consumer choices are transforming the food industry.

The Information Diet is an eye-opening look at our media consumption through a similar lens. Like the food industry, we all know the media industry has consolidated over the past 2 decades. But what impact has that had on our "information diet"?

Johnson makes a strong case that content farms are the media industry's equivalent of factory farms: producing cheap, low quality information to maximize profit. And if we don't educate ourselves as consumers, then we're basically doing the brain equivalent of eating at McDonalds every day... destroying our mental health and driving serious journalists, the organic family farmers of the media industry, out of business.

If the premise sounds a little depressing, it is. But a strong dose of humor and charming anecdotes make the medicine go down. And just like factory farms are depressing, the response -- farmers markets, grass-fed beef, and HGH-free milk -- can be empowering and delicious.

Johnson doesn't provide a strict "information diet" to follow, but he does provide helpful guidelines for choosing "healthy" information to consume (not too much, mostly facts). He also explores the social implications of a public that allows itself to become "information obese" (filled with too much inflammatory editorial fluff and too few hard facts and primary sources). I already think twice before turning into the Burger King drive through; this book gave me some food for thought next time I'm clicking through Google search results.
--Rosalyn Lemieux