Informational Poverty

A case for deliberate consumption

"A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention" - Herbert Simon

If you were given the choice to live with a clear mind versus feeling as if a fog has settled into your head, you’d choose a clear mind each time. No brainer, right? 

We need focus to do our best work. Creative thinking comes from clarity. The ability to digest information from a variety of angles and combine them into something new is priceless. And fun too. That’s why millions are searching for ways to be more “in the zone”, productive, creative, efficient, whatever you want to call it. They aren’t wrong for wanting to find it. 

James Clear says, “What looks like a talent gap is often a focus gap.”

I have some short thoughts on this. 

We won’t enjoy clear thinking until we stop our endless consumption. There's no way to comprehend all of the information bombarding us each day. Social feeds, blogs, news, Netflix, and endless Substacks. It's too easy to aimlessly scroll, click, and skim until we are numb. 

So, what if we shut these inputs off? What if we paused scrolling for long enough to avoid instinctively reaching for our phones at a pause in conversation?

Once the text-neck and screen blur wears off we feel refreshed, energized, and the mind kicks back into gear. It’s so simple. Yet, not easy with apps being built to be more and more addictive and effortless. 

We can’t remain focused while being flooded with new information. It’s no surprise when we try to keep up with it all, we forget to form our own opinions. 

This is living in informational poverty. 

It's so easy to consume that we skip trying to understand or learn something new from what we read. The overabundance of information distracts us from thinking for ourselves. There are too many inputs bidding for our attention. We need to be deliberate when choosing what to consume. In most cases, the default should be less. 

Stepping away is our only chance to increase our quality of thinking. We must pause before we pursue. It's a struggle to digest anything with content to consume around the clock. Once we pause our inputs we can begin to digest new ideas. 

 It's important to be informed but there are limits on what can be useful in daily life or work. The returns on consuming begin to diminish sooner than you imagine, especially with the News. There is no reason to skim the same story from multiple sources if we are intentional in choosing what we read.

Less scrolling, more digesting. 

Less reading, more comprehending. 

Less consuming, more creating. 

Let’s aim to spend our valuable attention more effectively.

Now, time for a walk.

-Clayton

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