Why social media is the junk food of digital content

Executive overview

Most people are unhappy with how much time they spend on social media but feel trapped by its inevitability. The food analogy solves this: social media content is engineered the same way ultra-processed food is — broken into base components and reconstituted into something hyper-palatable but harmful.

Calling social media a "digital Dorito" makes avoidance feel normal, not radical.

The media food pyramid

• Minimally processed = books and printed linguistic media — consume freely, no limits
• Moderately processed = TV, streaming, podcasts, email newsletters — use with moderation and some structure
• Ultra-processed = social media content — avoid if possible; use sparingly if not
• Treating content tiers like food tiers removes the stigma of opting out

How social content becomes ultra-processed

• A large pool of user content feeds recommendation algorithms
• Algorithms surface content to users; engagement data flows back to creators
• Creators adjust to what the algorithm rewards — a continuous feedback loop
• The loop breaks content down to base building blocks and reconstitutes it into forms that have never existed before but are hyper-palatable
• Result: TikTok dances, Mr. Beast editing rhythms, Instagram visual niches — all optimised for algorithm-human consumption, not human value
• This mirrors food scientists using corn and soy to build Doritos — novel, irresistible, and nutritionally empty

Practical rules by tier

• Books: read as much as you want
• TV/streaming: schedule it; pick something good; don't default-binge
• Email newsletters/articles: use a clipping service or send to Kindle; read away from the feed
• Podcasts: fine while doing other things; preserve at least some daily boredom for cognitive recovery
• Social media: treat like ultra-processed food — default to avoidance

Advice for students and knowledge workers

• Study in a different building from your phone; turn the internet off on your laptop
• Build up to 90-minute fully disconnected work sessions
• Practise boredom daily — walking between classes without earbuds, going to lunch without a screen
• Don't use TikTok or Instagram; you are a cognitive athlete in training
• Read outside your assignments; it's the equivalent of jogging and pull-ups

Lifestyle-centric planning vs. grand goals

• Grand goal approach: focus all energy on one metric (career, title, salary); neglects every other life area
• Lifestyle-centric planning: work backwards from a broad vision across all life areas; use work as an engine to serve as many areas as possible
• The reward from hitting a grand goal dissipates quickly; the cost of neglected life areas accrues every day
• Case study: Logan sacrificed health and family for a promotion, felt nothing, then went part-time and trained as a personal trainer — health improved, wife returned to work, family time restored

Managing shallow knowledge work

• There is a difference between good and mediocre product managers — identify the core skill and get better at it
• Don't conflate the necessity of communication with the necessity of chaotic communication
• Replace on-demand messaging with structured processes: office hours, docket-clearing meetings, shared documents updated on a schedule
• Reducing communication chaos is the highest-leverage thing a manager can do

On constraints and compound productivity

• Open-ended projects expand to fill available time without structure
• Fix short, high-intensity sessions (e.g. 9–11am, three days a week) and obey them strictly
• Regular focused effort compounded over time produces disproportionate output
• "Put a drop of water in a bucket every day — look up after a year and it's pretty full" (paraphrase of John McPhee)

Cal Newport on The Anxious Generation (John Haidt)

• Haidt's research shows a clear signal across multiple instruments and study designs: smartphones cause harm to teenagers on average
• Recommended minimum age for unrestricted smartphone access: 15–16; at the very least, wait until high school
• The literature has moved well past correlation debates; critics still citing 2019 uncertainty arguments are behind the evidence
• Episode 246 ("Kids and Phones", May 2023) is a shareable audio summary of the core research and recommendations