Preface
The things we know about food have a lot to teach us about how to have a healthy relationship with information. It turns out that foods that are bad for us have analogues in the world of information. In the world of agriculture, we now have factory farms churning out junk food; and in the world of media, we now have content farms churning out junk information. Consuming whole foods that come from the ground tends to be good for you, and consuming news from close to its source tends to inform you the most.
That’s what this book is about. My hope is that by reading it, you will gain the knowledge and incentive to transform your relationship with information and have a healthier lifestyle as a result. You’ll have more time to spend with your loved ones, be more effective at work, and be a more empowered citizen in your community.
For me, this book isn’t just a book—it’s a mission. Information overconsumption is a serious health problem for the American electorate, and we can see it from the halls of Congress to the tents of the Occupy Wall Street movement and the Tea Party. In any democratic nation with the freedom of speech, information can never be as strongly regulated by the public as our food, water, and air. Yet information is just as vital to our survival as the other three things we consume. That’s why personal responsibility in an age of mostly free information is vital to individual and social health. If we want our communities and our democracies to thrive, we need ...