We are constantly bombarded with interesting things on our “feeds”. Be it Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Reddit or Google Discover, they all show you content you like the moment you open them without you searching for something specific.
The feed constantly produces something novel. Our actions are simply:
- Opening the app
- Choosing what content we like and what we don’t.
Action 1 is active because nobody asked you to open the app, you did it voluntarily. Action 2 is passive because you don’t search for something specific, the feed gives you the options and you like some of them.
The passive actions dictate how the feed varies from person to person. They train the feed which leads to you to liking more content and open the app more often.
Does it hinder knowledge acquisition?
I want to read some article or a paper and I bookmark it read later. Or add a video to watch later. But I am so busy with the feed when I open the app that I never get to read the stuff I set aside to read.
The feed sometimes gives me good knowledge. But I get deeper knowledge when I intentionally open the things I set aside. Do I feel productive when I consume the content from a feed? Typically, I don’t. But when I research some topic on my own, I do feel productive.
So how do we not fall into the trap of the feed? I don’t want the feed to do the work, I want myself to do the work — find the right content from my own curiosity or my own reading/watch list.
Transition of knowledge acquisition
In the times when we did not have rich feeds, we searched for things ourselves. Our professors, friends or mentors introduced new things to us. Or the content itself referred to other content. TV and the new papers were the feeds of back then.
Due to the lack of instant personal feed, did humans have narrow scope of knowledge? Did they have deeper knowledge of certain things because they spend more time of them?
What about the quality of knowledge? How often do we train the feed to provide useful content? Is it a slippery slope? I like one funny reel or one entertaining useless youtube video and I slowly train the feed for more. Days later, I end up watching useless content for hours. In the meanwhile, the list of bookmarks of useful content keeps piling up without being consumed.
Solution: Cut the autopilot
Create your own lsit of contents if you haven’t. Instead of opening the feed, open your own list of contents. Consume the content without the feed. Feed your own self. Spend time with the content. Use the feed only when you want to add items to your list of contents.
I am yet to put such thinking into practice. In the future, I might post an update on how it went. If you try it, let me know about your experience in the comments.
