Information diet
the deliberate practice of choosing specific information sources and consumption patterns to optimize cognitive capacity for depth and signal detection rather than breadth and noise accumulation
Why This Is a Definition
This defines 'information diet' as a specific practice that distinguishes it from mere information consumption, establishing its genus (deliberate practice) and differentia (optimizing for depth and signal detection rather than breadth and noise). It's precise enough to distinguish from related concepts like 'information consumption' or 'media consumption' and uses language consistent with the curriculum's framing of epistemic infrastructure.
Source Lessons
Curate your information diet
Deliberately choosing what information you consume is as important as choosing what food you eat — because your inputs shape the quality of every thought you produce.
Signal detection is a survival skill
In an information environment designed to overwhelm your cognition, the ability to detect signal is not an optimization — it is a survival skill that determines whether you act on reality or react to noise.
Depth over breadth for signal detection
Deep engagement with fewer sources extracts more signal than shallow engagement with many. Depth builds the perceptual structures that make signal detection possible. Breadth, pursued without depth, produces the illusion of being informed while degrading your capacity to understand anything.