{"id":24199,"date":"2015-04-24T12:59:51","date_gmt":"2015-04-24T16:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wanderlust.com\/?p=24199"},"modified":"2016-05-03T21:55:01","modified_gmt":"2016-05-04T01:55:01","slug":"you-are-what-you-eat-and-you-think-what-you-read-information-diet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wanderlust.com\/ko\/journal\/you-are-what-you-eat-and-you-think-what-you-read-information-diet\/","title":{"rendered":"You Are What You Eat, and You Think What You Read"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the old adage is true\u2014that \u201cyou are what you eat\u201d\u2014perhaps we should take seriously the idea that clickbait articles are the junk food of the internet. Meaning that, sure, it\u2019s fine to consume a mindless feel-good snack every once in awhile, but as people like Clay Johnson argue in his book\u00a0The Information Diet<\/a><\/em>, too much can have legitimately negative effects on both our individual minds and collective consciousness.<\/p>\n

Clay makes the case that just as the strong business incentives behind cheaply producing fast and fatty foods over the last couple of decades have set the stage for an obesity crisis today, the strong business incentives behind cheaply producing fast and addictive “churnalism” are having real physical, psychological, and social consequences. And he\u2019s not the only one making this case; others include Ethan Zuckerman, director of the Center for Civic Media at MIT<\/a>, who has similarly long been thinking about\u00a0ways to help people get more of their news \u201cvegetables.”<\/a><\/p>\n

It turns out that a mindful information diet is important for more than just one\u2019s personal health. Filling one\u2019s belly with nourishing meals tends to allow for a healthier self with more energy for life. But filling one\u2019s mind with nourishing information tends to open eyes to unseen\u00a0possibilities\u00a0<\/em>in life. There is no shortage of reading on how exposure to new ideas allows people to think about themselves in new ways\u200a\u2014and to imagine new worlds accordingly. In the book\u00a0Where Good Ideas Come From<\/a><\/em>, author Steven Johnson describes his version of biologist Stuart Kauffman\u2019s “adjacent possible,” explaining that some ideas can only exist on the backs of others; in other words, these new ideas are only possible once one has been exposed to their adjacent pre-requisites. You can\u2019t invent a toaster unless you\u2019ve first been exposed to the idea of bread.<\/p>\n

It seems, then, that our goal should be to seek out the most nourishing information, as a way to open our minds to adjacent possibilities. In this way, books like\u00a0Cool Tools<\/a><\/em>\u00a0by Wired<\/em>\u00a0magazine\u2019s co-founder Kevin Kelly might be thought of as a menu of nutritious ingredients. Perhaps surprisingly, Kevin\u2019s book is often referenced as not necessarily interesting for technologists and avid Wired<\/em> readers, but great as a high school graduation gift, instead. And not because students will go out and buy any of the things within this 400-page tome, subtitled \u201cA Catalog Of Possibilities,\u201d but because she will know that it\u2019s possible to do ridiculous things like rent a backhoe, self-produce a low-budget movie, design and construct new instruments\u2014knowing that all of the tools required to do so are available and accessible.<\/p>\n

\"1-iT6L2VCjfqgnKViO9UMDPg_grande\"<\/a>All of these things speak to the idea that being creative has less to do with being innately talented and more to do with consuming content that helps us find more than just something new to see\u2014the right kind of content helps us realize what we couldn\u2019t see before. As Seth Godin notes on his blog, the artist who can draw the owl (at right<\/em>)\u00a0can do so not just because they know the technical mechanics of how to draw; it\u2019s instead because\u00a0they can imagine the owl clearly in their mind, through and through<\/a>\u2014they know what it\u00a0looks\u00a0<\/em>like.<\/p>\n

So for those of us seeking to do our best work and build creative things in the world, our job is to learn to see. \u201cIf you can\u2019t see it (in your mind, not with your eyes), Seth continues, \u201cyou can\u2019t [build] it.\u201d It\u2019s no coincidence that the people behind creative businesses we admire have what we tend to call vision.<\/span><\/p>\n

Composure is the brand I run, built around a line of scarves, but really it\u2019s about the vision & virtues that foster creative independent business. I consider it my best answer to the rather complex question of how to help others learn to see, how to help more of an ambitious young generation find personally relevant vision. So perhaps the best way to end this reflection is with a few relevant things that inform my own work; consider them the information equivalent of fully cooked, nourishing meals. Enjoy.<\/p>\n

Further reading:<\/em><\/p>\n