What Is the Most Important Diet You’ll Ever Go On?

Before you get too caught up in the eternal keto versus atkins debate, this particular post is not about food-related diets. This is about your media diet. What you consume both physically and mentally has an immediate, and palpable, effect on every area of your life.

You know the saying, “You are what you eat.” Well, stretch that out to include “You are what you view. You are what you listen to. And you are what you lend your mind, and undivided attention to." So choose wisely. And make sure that every second spent on media is time well-spent. Spent in a way that enriches your mind, body and soul.

That’s not to say that watching a slapstick comedy or chick flick over the weekend is not a welcome idea – it most certainly is. We definitely should take time off to relax and recharge. What I am calling for, though, is to be just as discerning – and picky – with your media diet as you are with the food you eat. 

Let’s get right into the science of this with this Forbes article by Barnaby Lashbrooke.

A 2019 survey by the American Psychological Association found that more than half (54%) of Americans want to stay informed but reading the news causes them stress. As such, nearly two in five adults (39%) had taken steps to reduce their news consumption. But that was pre-coronavirus.

Now we have to work from home, alongside our families or roommates, through a pandemic, curating our news consumption has never been more pressing if we are to keep stress levels to a minimum and achieve more in less time.

Swap snacks for meals

Fredda Hurwitz, chief strategy and marketing officer at RedPeg, recommends treating your news consumption like a healthy diet: in short, eat regular meals and avoid snacking.

“The magnetic draw of snackable Twitter headlines coupled with the constant bleeping of the various news organizations I subscribe to is enough to keep me in a permanent state of news consumption, which serves no purpose other than to add huge and unnecessary levels of anxiety. The statement ‘she saw something shiny and got distracted’ has taken on a whole new meaning recently,” confesses Hurwitz.

The diet analogy can go deeper: we can also swap low-quality junk content for high-quality journalism from trusted sources that are less likely to set our pulses racing. In his book, News: A User’s Manual, philosopher Alain de Botton said: “Always remember that the news is always trying to make you scared. It’s bad for us, but very good for news organizations: the easiest way to get an audience is through frightening people.” So, source your news from trusted publications that aim to inform, rather than terrify.

Use airplane mode

Biron Clark, founder of job search advice site CareerSidekick, has managed to avoid news websites, television and social media outside of a dedicated 30-minute period each afternoon by setting his phone to airplane mode during his peak productivity hours. And he doesn’t allow himself to check messages or social media after waking up until he has completed 90 minutes of focused work.

Clark explains: “This has had a big impact on my productivity and mental health in the past two weeks. While it's important to stay on top of current developments at a time like this, it's easy to fall into the habit of checking far too often, which can hurt your productivity and mental health.”

Read as reward

Morgan Taylor, chief marketing officer at LetMeBank, says trying to completely avoid updates during the working day isn’t a good strategy, as curiosity gets the better of him. Instead he does focused two-hour bursts of distraction-free work and then allows himself to check the news. He also recommends closing down tabs once articles have been read. “I think a lot of people will have trouble as they are leaving web pages and social media pages open while working. This will grab at your attention constantly,” he warns.

To sum up. Not only is your time immensely precious, so is your mental health. Be sparing with the time you spend on news, and instead punctuate your day with inspirational material that will not only motivate you to do better, but will help you reap massive results in the long-run.

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