DMB Digest: What goes in must come out.
Info-tainers, get off my digital lawn!
You are what you eat. I heard this one a lot as a kid. Of course it means nothing to you at that age. I’m not exactly sure what it means to me at this age. In the entrepreneurial world, I learned a different version of the same adage: GIGO—garbage in, garbage out. (It makes you sound cool when you shorten it to an acronym. Plus, if you say it fast, it sounds like you are chanting G.I. Joe!)
As adults, I’m sure we all understand the intent behind this saying to an extent; the stuff you take into you will eventually become visible through the stuff that comes out of you. Many of us are probably aware that a famous Nazarene also said something along these lines, although ironically his wisdom nugget negated the version I grew up with (when he indicated that we poop out the stuff that goes into the stomach). It’s the stuff that goes into the heart that will inevitable come back out as an indicator of our character.
The good news is that even fried chicken will come out the other side of us, having left our character intact (for the most part). The bad news is that all the streaming content we consume filters through our heart altering our character in the process. Later, when we puke it out, we are fundamentally changed. If you want to be utterly and totally freaked out, spend some time reading the research done on how quickly an adolescent mind can be radicalized on Tiktok. But this is not a missive condemning social media (although I don’t mind tossing out a flyby-fist-shake).
Rather, this is a get-off-my-lawn rant directed toward information dealers and all the info-tainers who would monetize attention at the expense of eroding our individual and societal character. Like with any other addictive behavior, we must first acknowledge we are an addict. Then we must distance ourselves from those who would leverage our addiction for selfish gain, even at the cost of individual and societal destruction.
What is that you ask? How can we identify shady info-tainers from legitimate advocates of learning and curiosity? Hmmm. I propose a simple litmus test. How does the individual speak of their adversaries? Those with which they disagree? Do they humiliate and dehumanize them? Do they belittle them? Or do they attempt to represent them fairly and understand their perspective even while disagreeing? It’s that easy. The first type of streamer is preying on your prejudice, fear, and anger in a manner to drive you further into addictive and destructive consumption in order to gain financially from your growing addiction to their brand of poison.
Let’s start right now. Join me in shaking your fist at all the info-tainers whom you’ve succumbed to over the last days and weeks. Renounce their hold on you. “Get off my digital lawn, you bleepity bleeps!”
Now, doesn’t that feel better? If we don’t like what is coming out of us at times, the good news is we can change what is going into us. Whether reading a good book, watching a good show, listening to a good podcast, or even streaming content on social media, we can stand up against diabolical info-tainers who have only their personal gain in mind. For many of them, it is too late. They’ve suckled at the tit of Mammon so long, they’ve lost themselves along the way. But we don’t have to follow them along that path of destruction.
It may take a few months, but I challenge each of us, myself included; be more mindful about the stuff we take in, and eventually we will become pleasantly aware of the stuff coming out.
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