info consumption, attention, denial

I've been wondering why the Twitter bug hasn't seemed to have caught on in Cleveland yet -- or at least not in my circles (btw, me, ok.) But maybe it's better it hasn't.

Aaron Swartz on junk-food's information equivalent:

Everyone in America knows that it's easy to accidentally find yourself stuffing your face with junk food when you're not paying attention. But no one would seriously maintain that junk food is better than fine cuisine. It's just easier.

The same goes for reading stories on Reddit or your friends' pointless twits about their life. Looking at photos of sunsets or reading one-liners takes no cognitive effort. It's the mental equivalent of snack food. You start eating one and before you know it you've gone through two cans of Pringles and become a world expert on Evan Williams' travel habits.

-- Aaron Swartz, Everything Good is Bad For You (Raw Thought)

I criticize reality TV as being the fast-food of entertainment, but MySpace and blogreading can prove just as fruitless.

Ultimately, it's intention and attention. How are the feeds in your newsreader feeding you? How do you take it inline and offline?