“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” ― T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land and Other Poems

Problems

• 資訊爆炸/洪流的時代
  • In the age of
    • Information abundance/overload
    • Infinite information on the internet
  • We all live in a consumption-oriented life. Fast consumption, constant consumption, more consumption.
• “The Never-Ending Now” by David Perell
• 數位焦慮 FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)
• Most of us only consume contents created
  • within the last 24 hours (e.g., news)
  • recommended by the “For You” algorithm (e.g., YT videos, SM feeds)
• Functional Illiteracy
• Fast Digital Consumption
  • is harmful to the brain, mind, and soul.
  • making re-reading the same page feels like a waste of time because the short content I constantly consume has made my brain accustomed to this behavior.

Solutions

• Just-In-Case information → Just-In-Time information
  • It’s not enough to use information for “something” — it needs to be immediate and important. If “no” on either count, don’t consume it. Information is useless if it is not applied to something important or if you will forget it before you have a chance to apply it.
• Reactive → Proactive
  • Develop the habit of asking yourself, “Will I definitely use this information for something immediate and important?” before consuming any content
• Fast, excessive consumption → Slow, gradual consumption
• FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) → JOMO (Joy Of Missing Out)
  • “Try to get to the bottom of things, not stay on top of things.”
  • 不要害怕錯過資訊，因為如果是真的很重要的資訊，它會再次出現在我們眼前
    • 就跟手機來電一樣，如果真的很重要，對方會再打一次，如果沒有再次來電，代表是不重要的事情
  • Strategic Ignorance → Ignorance is bliss!
  • News Sobriety
• The Laundry Cycle Mentality
  • Think about the areas of your life where you are placing unnecessary pressure on yourself to have everything in a “completed” state, e.g., to-read pile (Read-It-Later → Never-Read-It).
  • Perhaps that area is better viewed as a RIVER than as a BUCKET — as a cycle, not a fixed state.
• Build a note-taking habit and an idea-capturing system
• Consume less. Reflect/Review or Create/Produce/Make/Build More.
  • Embrace Low Information Diet to avoid the “Mental Squeeze Point”
  • Spend more time connecting dots (convergent exploiting) than you do collecting them (divergent exploring)
  • Find a balance between consuming and digesting information—if you’re just consuming tons of content without processing it properly, you’re setting yourself up to forget most of it
  • If you decide to consume something:
    • Consume what you are going to create
      • Mindset Shift: Consumer → Producer
      • “The number of hours I spend consuming should never equal or exceed the number of hours I spend creating.” ― Nicolas Cole, The Art and Business of Online Writing
    • The quality of your thoughts is determined by the quality of your reading. Spend more time thinking about the inputs. Only consume quality contents that have stood the test of time.
      • The Lindy Library
      • Brain Attic
    • Study history to predict the future
      • It’s all just history repeating itself (Historic Recurrence).
      • Humans tend to repeat the mistakes humans make.
      • “History never repeats itself. Man always does.” ― Voltaire
  • Remember: Information and knowledge are two different things!
    • 「資訊」並不代表「知識」 — 文化評論家南方朔
    • 「批判 & 獨立思考」的能力至關重要

Remember

• You’re only as smart as the information you consume
• What digital content we consume is as important as what we eat
• 24 hours each day isn’t enough to consume 0.0001% of the world’s events