We eat fast food when we need something quick, cheap, predictable, and satisfying.
It’s not the best version of a burger you can find, but it’s fast and inexpensive, so we make the trade-off from ‘the best’ to just ‘satisfying’. And of course, the fast food places we know and love all understand the formula for making sure their products are satisfying: salt, fat, carbs. Yum.
But if you were to eat a Happy Meal or an XXL Grilled Stuft Burrito1 every day, not only will your physical and mental health start to suffer, but you’ll also get a bit addicted (like Morgan Spurlock did in the documentary Super Size Me). You’ll start to crave it, maybe even get headaches and feel a bit ‘off’ until you get your next fix.
At the same time, you might also get bored. The menu is limited and each item is prepared the exact same way each time. The predictability is comforting when we only eat there once in a while, but picking up the same food three times every day is likely to become a bit dull.
So for all these reasons - health, variety, and a desire for ‘better’ food - most of us choose to keep fast food as an indulgence we don’t allow every day. It’s reserved as something to ‘grab’ when we can’t manage to fit in something less formulaic.
Now what if this were also true:
We consume social media posts and cable news shows when we need something quick, cheap, predictable, and satisfying.
It’s not the best version of information you can find, but it’s fast and inexpensive, so we make the trade-off from ‘the best’ to just ‘satisfying’. And of course, the platforms we know and love all understand the formula for making sure their products are satisfying: outrage, negativity, and spoon feeding your own opinions back to you. Yum.
But if you were to consume Facebook or Tucker Carlson every day, not only will your physical and mental health start to suffer, but you’ll also get a bit addicted. You’ll start to crave it, maybe even feel a bit ‘off’ until you get your next fix.
At the same time, you might also get bored. The topics are limited and each story is prepared the exact same way each time. The predictability is comforting when we only consume it once in a while, but choosing the same basic information source multiple times a day is likely to become a bit dull.
So for all these reasons - health, variety, and a desire for ‘better’ information - most of us choose to keep social media as an indulgence we don’t allow every day. It’s reserved as something to ‘grab’ when we can’t manage to fit in something less formulaic.
Of course, that’s not at all the real situation for most of us. We consume social media and cable news ‘information’ like fast food, but we do it every day. Sometimes dozens of times a day. It’s making our minds, and sometimes our bodies, unhealthy.
I’d like to argue that we need to treat the stuff we put in our heads at least as reverently as the stuff we put in our mouths. Sure - fast food is fine from time to time, just as social media is fine.
But neither one can be our only source of nutrition.2
Seriously - that’s how Taco Bell spells it. I just looked it up.
We’ll explore the information sources that are more like ‘real food’ in a subsequent post.