Information Obesity: Why You Need to Put Your Brain on a Diet

In the newsroom, we used to talk about “Shelf Life.” A story about a fire has a shelf life of 24 hours. A story about the changing nature of the city has a shelf life of a decade. Today, the internet has collapsed all shelf lives into a single, frantic “Now.”

We are eating information like it’s fast food—greasy, salty, and designed to be forgotten the moment it’s swallowed. We feel “informed,” but we aren’t gaining wisdom. We are just gaining anxiety.

1. The “Lindy Effect” of Reading
There is a concept called the Lindy Effect, which suggests that the longer something has survived, the longer it is likely to survive. A book that has been in print for 50 years is likely to be relevant for another 50. A tweet that was posted 50 minutes ago will likely be irrelevant in another 50.

As an editor, I’ve learned that if you want to understand the present, you have to stop reading about the present. Stop chasing the “Latest.” Start chasing the “Lasting.” Spend 80% of your time on things that are at least five years old. You’ll find that most “breaking news” is just noise that solves itself if you wait a week.

2. Deep Reading vs. Shallow Scanning
The way we read online is fundamentally different from the way we read on paper. Online, our eyes move in an “F” pattern—scanning for keywords, looking for the exit, hunting for the dopamine hit of the conclusion. We aren’t reading; we’re foraging.

To truly understand an idea, you have to inhabit it. You need the “Slow Edit.”

Read a long-form essay instead of ten listicles.

Read a biography instead of a Wikipedia summary.

Read a physical book where you can’t click a link and disappear down a rabbit hole.

3. The “Output to Input” Ratio
We’ve become a society of “Input Junkies.” we listen to a podcast while we cook, read news while we commute, and scroll social media before bed. We are so busy stuffing information into our brains that we’ve left no room for our own thoughts to ferment.

In the editing process, the “rest” period is vital. You write a draft, then you put it in a drawer for three days. You need that silence for the connections to form. If you are always consuming, you are never creating. —

The Editor’s Recommendation: Be as picky about what you put in your mind as you are about what you put in your body.

Stop grazing on the “Infinite Scroll.” Choose three high-quality sources, read them deeply, and then close the tab. Give your brain the space to be bored, to wonder, and to actually think. Knowledge is not about how much you’ve seen; it’s about what you’ve retained.