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We Are Why The News Is All Crap – DorobekINSIDER interview with Clay Johnson

News is crap! Well maybe that’s taking it too far but really there are increasing better outlets to gather information from rather than traditional news. While we can point the finger at the news all we want some of the blame has to fall on us for what we choose to consume (looking at you person reading that Kardasian article).

Did you know we take in an average of 11 hours of information a day? If you are getting yours from bad sources and not being judicious about what info you are taking in you might be getting 11 hours worth of crap… and that’s a pretty big waste of time.

GovLoop Insights and our podcast the DorobekINSIDER sat down with Clay Johnson, Author of the Information Diet to get some tips on maximizing out your info intake all while being as efficient as possible.


The DorobekINSIDER – Clay Johsnon “The Information Diet” Interview by cdorobek

Tips

1.) Realize there’s an ethical consequence to everything you read or watch. Don’t want celebrity news? Then don’t read it or watch it. Don’t like Bill O’Reilly then don’t watch him and give them ratings.

2.) Take a closer look at the actual source of information. Is this an opinion or is it a fact? Also dont’ be afraid to research things.

3.) Avoid journalist that don’t let you make up your own mind. A lot of people have bias and that’s not worth your time.

4.) Ask is this worth my time? Time is a non-renewable resource… make sure the information is worth it.

5.) Pay attention to the information that is close to you and you can act on. Information about your wife is more important to you than information about President Obama’s wife. Same goes for government – local is more important (normally) than national.

6.) Focus on the data. Numbers don’t lie but rather present straight fact.

7.) Make information consumption appointments. Don’t just get on facebook… set a specific time window to browse it and stick to it.

What are your tips to being your own gatekeeper of information?

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Corey McCarren

I should sign up to be in the sample for Nielsen ratings. The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, Storage Wars (Yuuuup!), and Comedy Central from 10-12 would have the highest ratings ever. I’m actually very bad at picking what information to consume. I go on Yahoo! News to read about the latest tensions between country X and country Y, and I wind up reading about the dumbest soft news ever that I don’t care about. As far as tips, I’d say don’t be like me and get distracted by the shiny keys, meaning ignore the articles on the front page of no substance even though the title intrigues you for some reason.