[kieckerjan]

A corollary of this idea that also the bad stuff that you read leaves a trace, and not necessarily a good trace. To continue the food metaphor: like junk food there is junk reading and while it may satisfy some need it is all informational empty calories and transfats. Which brings up a subject I pondered many times: to go on an information diet. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated.

[7222aafdcf68cfe]

In this context, I often refer to the essay by Rolf Dobelli, titled Avoid News: Towards a Healthy News Diet.

It can be found on the Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20130117104220/http://dobelli.co...

[kieckerjan]

Actually Dobelli was the one who got me thinking about this. I tend to agree with him, although eschewing all news is a bit too extreme to my taste. I tried scaling back my intake by switching from a daily paper to a weekly paper, but one has to have tremendous discipline to avoid the news of the day on the internet. Especially if the internet is your job, like it is for me.

[scyzoryk_xyz]

I applied the same thing to my media dieting - I have made a conscious effort to sort of curate and eliminate certain pages and news sources.

This orange site I have mixed feelings about though.

[fikama]

Could you share? What are the media outlets that passed positively your elimination? And you are still using them?

[eviks]

Since the "good" stuff can also leave a bad trace, and there is nothing to measure (remember, it's there even if you don't remember it), how would you approach the diet composition?

[Painsawman123]

one of the most popular things in modern society,'modern music' (whatever that means)is not different from 'junk food'.. 'Modern music' is to your brain what junk food is to your body! Modern music with its repetitive beats optimized to give you a brief 'dopamine' have a similar effect on your brain as junk food does on your body!! in the same way that junk food provides a quick burst of pleasure but lacks nutritional value, modern music offers instant gratification through repetitive beats and catchy melodies while offering little to no informational value to the brain . .... "junk food", "short videos", "porn" and "modern music" these things are all designed to give you a brief dopamine rush ;)

[freilanzer]

Meditation would probably help a lot with that diet. Not just reduce your informational intake, but also live mindfully.

[socksy]

I guess one start might be to avoid the comments section on HN ;)