Design a media diet with explicit inclusion criteria

Specify in advance what media you will consume, from which sources, and for how long — rather than consuming whatever the algorithm serves.

Why it works

Algorithmic feeds operate on engagement maximization, not value maximization — they serve content that keeps you watching, regardless of whether it serves your goals. A personal media diet with explicit inclusion criteria shifts editorial control from the algorithm to you. This is not about consuming less — it is about consuming deliberately, from sources you’ve evaluated and chosen rather than sources that have won an engagement auction.

How to do it

1. List the information categories genuinely relevant to your life and work (industry news, one quality newsletter, a specific podcast).
2. For each: choose one specific source, one access frequency, and one maximum time per session.
3. Cancel all subscriptions and unsubscribe from all content outside this list.
4. Revisit the list quarterly and evaluate each item: is this still earning its slot?

Evidence

Information overload research (Eppler & Mengis) documents that beyond a threshold, additional information reduces decision quality. Deliberate curation addresses both the quality and quantity dimensions of media consumption. This is a practitioner application of information hygiene principles. (mechanistic)

Information overload research is mostly organizational; the personal media diet application is a principled but not directly studied extension.

Sources

• Eppler & Mengis (2004), the concept of information overload, Information Society

Common mistake

Designing the media diet but continuing to browse algorithmically curated feeds "on the side" — the feed is the problem, and curated substitutes only work if the feed is closed.