Information is critical.
Knowing the context that surrounds a situation, the nuance of the systems involved, what the competition are doing. These are all fundamental to good strategy and decision making when taking on a project or solving a problem.
But much of the information people consume each day isn’t related to current situations they face. It’s the news. It’s the latest article in HBR. It’s what their favourite pundit said on Twitter
Much consumption stems from a perceived need to feel and look informed in today’s hyperconnected world. To not appear ignorant if someone brings up something in the popular consciousness.
But this information usually holds fleeting value, if any at all.
Perhaps most insidious is the time consumption takes from developing capability and craft. Add up the hours you spend reading the news, watching YouTube, listening to podcasts. Is it (conservatively) 5 hours a week? That’s 260 hours over the course of a year. How much more skilled could you be at your craft with another 260 hours of deliberate practice? What new capability could you have acquired in that time?
How much more value could you add if you were happily and willfully ignorant of things that simply don’t matter.