Welcome to the 21st century, the era of information technology where we can access anything and everything that we want from the world wide web. Every day we constantly spend about 60% of our time using our phones and computers - browsing social media, news, checking our emails, and watching funny cat videos on YouTube. We continue to live this kind of life without being aware that our lives are consumed by this information overload plague, and distracting us from the really meaningful things in life such as spending more time with family and friends, traveling, and many other things. By doing the Low Information Diet, we can start to enjoy life more by living in the present, if information consumption is reduced significantly in the first place.
To get started, here's what you can do.
Stop Consuming Information That Doesn't Concern You
If you're watching the news or checking a website, ask yourself first if these have a direct impact on you or what you do with your life. Sometimes, we unknowingly jump to news articles, blogs, videos that are not related to us and won't even contribute anything to our lives. An actor's drug or drinking problem won't do anything good for you. A tech magnate's status in the billionaire's club won't make your net worth any closer to theirs. Some business deal in Asia clearly won't benefit you or put any food on the table for you. Having an awareness of what information to watch or listen to, can significantly give us more time for things that matter.
Stop Consuming Any Negative Information
Our emotional aspect is also a big consideration in consuming information. We have to be more selective of the mood of what we watch or listen to because that affects us directly as well. Reading an article against a certain political candidate will only enrage you. Watching sad and miserable documentaries will also make you sad. Reading your friend's hate comments towards someone will make you hate that certain someone as well. Instead of consuming all this toxic and negative information, you can opt to watch, read, or listen to happier content which will also make you happy.
Avoid Gossip
As human beings, it is quite common to engage in gossip about someone. According to leading psychologists, most gossips are neutral in nature at the start of a conversation, but the longer you stay in that conversation, the more negative it turns into. Discussing how ugly somebody's dress won't make your dress any prettier. Criticizing somebody's decisions in life won't make your decisions any better. Talking about a co-worker behind their back, won't do a single thing to increase your salary. The only thing that gossip achieves is to give you more negativity and waste time. I know we are all entitled to our own opinions about someone or something, but our world would be a much better place if everyone lived by the phrase, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it".
Schedule Information Consumption
Deciding on when to use our phones and computers, and how much we should use them can free us more time with other things that also matter. Without any planning or regulation on usage and screen times, we unknowingly end up spending 50-60% of our day staring at our mobile phones trapped in the tentacles of social media, YouTube, and the internet in general. Limiting our information consumption to an hour in the morning, or evening can make you check only the essential things. You can check your emails, do a quick scan-and- skim if there was any relevant news that could significantly affect you. Social media is non-essential therefore it should only be checked in the evening after all the productive and meaningful things are done during the day.
Comments