How To Improve your Information Diet

Yuri's tips on healthy ways to maximize signal and minimize noise - memes at the end

Comrades: You are what you read.

Everyone knows the importance of a healthy food diet. We watch what we eat so we can enjoy long, active lives. Many chronic diseases stem from poor eating habits. Billions of dollars are spent on improving the quality of what we ingest. Successful diet changes are life changing.

While we pay close attention the food we put into our bodies, we don’t pay nearly as much attention to the information we put into our minds. The modern media environment is a 24/7 all-you-can-eat junk food buffet. MSM delivers McDonald’s level content. Social media algorithms turbocharge the dopamine hamster wheel. Fearmongers fatten gullible sheep up for shearing and slaughter.

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A poor information diet is just as damaging as a poor food diet. Consuming low quality information leads to depression, anxiety, and anger. The mind virus spreads through pixels that convince people to physically harm themselves. For several years, billions of people hid indoors, covered their faces, socially isolated themselves, abused their children, and injected experimental drugs because of their information diets. They held genocidal rage towards anyone who did not comply the way they did.

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Well-informed citizens are critical for a functioning Republic. In an empire of lies, the citizenry must make a conscious effort to seek truth. We no longer need to go to libraries or archives, all we need is critical thinking with clicks and scrolls. High quality information sources speak truth to power, make sense of the world around us, and entertain in a positive way. I recommend reading Substack CEO Chris Best’s banger on how Substack serves the people and the culture. We are in good hands here.

We must look for signals in the noise and reward trustworthy sources, while naming and shaming the spreaders of lies and bad takes. In essence, we are accelerating the trend to destroy rotten institutions and build new ones. I write what I want, but try to strike a balance between sugar and spice. The ~30 fellow Substackers that I recommend and interviewed are Pulitzer worthy. Some are fellow anons, while some are not. We are all finding new angles and pushing the Overton window, amplifying each other along the way. We are the media now.

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The Trump show trial demonstrated how our society has been subverted by the information equivalent of toxic sludge. The New York Times bragged that it controlled the minds of 8 out of 12 jurists. Google is runner up with 4, while WSJ is in third at 3. Sadly, Substack didn’t get on the scoreboard. Jurors 2 (X/Truth) and 4 (none) were the only hopes, but given the results they probably lied to get on the jury. A jury of peers is now a jury of PMC.NPC.AWFL bots (extra spicy sex diary of the average New York jurist here and 34 reasons for a mistrial here).

You can predict how people vote and their stances on most issues based on what they read. If you see a dumb commenter, chances are they read some combination of MSM and these Trump Derangement Substack regurgitators. I will never understand why people pay for TDS screeds that they can get from MSM for free, but at least 10% of their dollars go to helping Substack grow:

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Here are a few tactical tips. To extend the food analogy, keep information consumption to certain windows. Go on intermittent fasts. Stop eating if you feel full or oversaturated. You’d be obese if you were putting food in your mouth all day long, so don’t do the same with information. Shut off all smartphone ring/vibrate notifications except for calls. Use silent badges and banners for just a few apps like email and messaging. Put down the phone before 9AM and after 9PM and never take it into the bedroom. For major events, wait a few days for proper analysis instead of getting caught up in speculation and hot takes.

Share these diet tips with those who have poor information diets. Like bad food, many are addicted and will lash out at you for suggesting that they change their habits. It’s still worth a shot.

Platforms:

• Use Substack as your information hub - avoid all corporate/government legacy media like NPR, BBC, CBC, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NYT, WP, and Fox

• Instead of Gmail, use Protonmail

• Instead of YouTube, use Rumble

• Instead of Amazon, support a local business. Leave them a good review and talk to the people who work there - you might even make a friend and become a regular! #betonmainstreet

• Avoid all Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) and CCP TikTok