Tim Feriss' Low Information Diet

[williamkwan]

So I've been reading the 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Feriss, and one strange piece of advice he gives is to avoid spending time keeping up with world affairs. I understand his theory of ignoring what's unnecessary, but this seems a bit extreme to me, especially when you consider the fact that you can speed read a newspaper in a tiny amount of time. He does recommend getting important news from friends or coworkers, but still, it's sometimes useful to know more about what's going on. What do you guys think about this?

[VinceG]

I've never found it particularly useful to be well-informed about such things. When I did, I would often come off preachy or whatever. Tim's being very insightful here.

[russianrocket]

Being informed about world events, just means you have plenty of talking points

[Andrew Brunelle]

World events seem like the only thing most people want to talk about anymore. But most of them don't affect us personally. Most news is not actionable either. Unless, of course, you feel called to action on any of these news events. If you're not going to help solve the problems, then there isn't much value in you knowing too much about world events and tragedies. But the media wants you to keep watching, so turn off your TV and start living.

[farmerjaneusa]

I haven't watched "the news" or read a newspaper in over 3 years. I figure if the world is going to end, someone will let me know. I think I have less stress and oddly feel more connected to the world on a deeper level rather than lost. It does take some getting used to.

[Dimitri]

I've never bought into the mentality of watching/reading the news. It's not like I'm going to do anything about it.

There's nothing — absolutely nothing — that you need to know about current world affairs. You don't even need to know who the president is. That information won't serve you no matter what kind of country you live in. Knowing something doesn't change it. Knowing it doesn't serve you.

You say it's sometimes useful to know more about what's going on. Why? What benefit does it provide for you? Why the need to know what's happening? What is your attachment with this?

[juancito]

My point is about focus. Do you make any money from knowing current events? Is it part of your job? If not, then it is not necessary to be well-informed. Take the time to focus on things that enhance your job skills, or work on things that you enjoy. Our thoughts are of utmost importance, and if we focus a lot of those thoughts on things that we cannot do anything about, all it does is cause unnecessary stress and take our focus away from things we can be doing to enhance our lives and the lives of those who are close to us. Who knows, maybe you'll come up with an invention from you thinking or a cool painting. If you had been using that time to learn about world events, maybe you will miss out on creating that invention or work of art.
To Focus!

[russianrocket]

When you don't know current events, people look at you like an idiot. So, there's that.

[Agota]

I have already said it few times here: I don't watch news, I don't read newspapers and I don't follow the politics at all. You know what? I think that low information diet is amazing!

The question that most people never ask themselves is why you feel like you should follow the news in the first place?

People usually say that you have to stay informed.

I wholeheartedly agree that you have to stay informed on things that really matter to you. The question is what really matters to you?

The misconception is that people who doesn't follow are ignorant, but in the reality they're usually more educated than the ones who are "staying informed" throughout evening news. There's a thing that is called the law of excluded alternative, which basically states that when you're doing choosing something, you're automatically not choosing something else. How does it work with information consumption?

In my case, I'm interested in health and fitness,entrepreneurship,business, psychology, certain world affairs, personal development and spiritual development.

I have a choice:

1. To watch evening news or to read a newspaper. This way I'll find out what's happening in politics, which celebrity slept with who this week and who was raped, tortured or killed in the last few days. This would also provide me with things to gossip about with my friends ("OMG, did you know that this singer who dated that actor is now sleeping with his brother who is music producer, I bet she's doing it just to get a record deal!").

2. To spend that time reading on business, psychology or personal/spiritual development instead. This way, I'd stay informed on the fields that matter to me a lot (especially since I want to build a career combining all those) and probably get insights that would help me to improve my life. I could also spend that time researching world affairs that matter to me by reading articles, books, watching talks and contacting people, for example, issues related with nutrition: hunger and obesity. This way, I'd continue to look for the way to make my contribution towards solving these issues. This also would provide me with things to have intelligent conversations about.

Now, which choice would be wiser for me to make, in your opinion?

..it's amazing that most people are convinced "they should follow the news", yet they never ask themselves why they should do so.. Hello, mass brainwashing!

[russianrocket]

Originally Posted by Agota

I have already said it few times here: I don't watch news, I don't read newspapers and I don't follow the politics at all. You know what? I think that low information diet is amazing!

The question that most people never ask themselves is why you feel like you should follow the news in the first place?

People usually say that you have to stay informed.

I wholeheartedly agree that you have to stay informed on things that really matter to you. The question is what really matters to you?

The misconception is that people who doesn't follow are ignorant, but in the reality they're usually more educated than the ones who are "staying informed" throughout evening news. There's a thing that is called the law of excluded alternative, which basically states that when you're doing choosing something, you're automatically not choosing something else. How does it work with information consumption?

In my case, I'm interested in health and fitness,entrepreneurship,business, psychology, certain world affairs, personal development and spiritual development.

I have a choice:

1. To watch evening news or to read a newspaper. This way I'll find out what's happening in politics, which celebrity slept with who this week and who was raped, tortured or killed in the last few days. This would also provide me with things to gossip about with my friends ("OMG, did you know that this singer who dated that actor is now sleeping with his brother who is music producer, I bet she's doing it just to get a record deal!").

2. To spend that time reading on business, psychology or personal/spiritual development instead. This way, I'd stay informed on the fields that matter to me a lot (especially since I want to build a career combining all those) and probably get insights that would help me to improve my life. I could also spend that time researching world affairs that matter to me by reading articles, books, watching talks and contacting people, for example, issues related with nutrition: hunger and obesity. This way, I'd continue to look for the way to make my contribution towards solving these issues. This also would provide me with things to have intelligent conversations about.

Now, which choice would be wiser for me to make, in your opinion?

..it's amazing that most people are convinced "they should follow the news", yet they never ask themselves why they should do so.. Hello, mass brainwashing!

While speaking of misconceptions, have you considered that having to choose, is a misconception? You mentioned that you have two choices, but have not mentioned why you need to choose between the two, and why you only have two choices.

[Agota]

Originally Posted by russianrocket

While speaking of misconceptions, have you considered that having to choose, is a misconception? You mentioned that you have two choices, but have not mentioned why you need to choose between the two, and why you only have two choices.

I have a high number of choices of what I can do at any given moment. It's obvious that I could polish my nails or blankly stare to the ceilings instead watching news or reading books. I have narrowed all those choices down to two in this example because it's an easiest way to convey the idea I want to express.

I'm not saying that you can't follow the general news or read newspapers and stay informed on the particular things that are important to you at the same time. I was simply pointing out that in most cases, people don't make a conscious choice to follow the news, they do it because they "should" or because everyone does it, but they never ask themselves why. In case you or someone else made a conscious decision to follow the news, especially if it is related to their careers or something they enjoy, then by all means, go for it!

P.S. I don't think that people think that you're an idiot if you're not up to date with current affairs.. At least in my experience, they might make fun of me or ask me why I'm not following the news, but once I start talking on things that actually interest me, whether health, psychology, buddhism or whatever, people are usually impressed by my knowledge on the subject..And it's never about other people anyway: in case someone calls me a stupid idiot because I don't watch evening news, well, I think I can survive

[elucidate]

Filling your head with too much information just to appear 'wordly' can block your intuitive faculties. This is the part of us that we are taught to deny, and is therefore the part of us that needs to be re-nurtured, as I see it.

Choosing what you allow into your head is more empowering than being bombarded with fear based information fed to us nightly.

And as Agota said, most of it is just fodder for people to gossip about, instead of talking about subjects that are actually interesting to them. This keeps everyone at a very surface level, parroting away without really delving into the subject...just something to talk about to fill up space.

I've had a different experience to you though Agota...in my experience, people will look at me like I'm from Mars, and whilst I don't know what they really think, I've been called stupid for not following the news...but that's by people who think that they are very smart and clever because they can regurgitate what they've been fed that night.

Everything that goes on is available to look up on the internet, and at least in this way it is you who is doing the researching, not just passively sitting back and 'consuming' what is being fed to you.

People seem to have this idea that loading up on information is the same as knowledge=power...it's not. Information is not knowledge.

[williamkwan]

Interesting points. I do agree that mindlessly pouring in information won't help you much. However, doesn't being generally well-informed also build promote mindfulness? What is mean is, although it's great to focus our lives around the things we love and care about, not all the information we utilize is obtained by directly looking for it. Sometimes, these "random details" give us insight on more important things in life. And when we're able to synthesize this new knowledge into our thoughts and ideas, we can create opportunities for ourselves which we otherwise wouldn't have.

[elucidate]

Originally Posted by russianrocket

When you don't know current events, people look at you like an idiot. So, there's that.

So?