Rise against the mainstream

Most people today understand the harmful effects of regularly consuming junk food. Social institutions and doctors worldwide have done a commendable job promoting this idea. What is rarely addressed, however, is the quality of our media consumption.

If food sustains the body, media sustains the mind. Just as junk food damages physical health, junk media - which in many forms the majority of mainstream media, poisons the mind. The definition of health includes both physical and mental well-being. Ignoring the latter is a recipe for disaster. Junk food delivers empty calories that spike blood sugar and clog arteries. In a similar way, much of mainstream media, delivers empty dopamine. It spikes anxiety, shrinks attention spans, and slowly erodes critical thinking.

Consider what an average media diet often looks like: celebrity gossip and interviews, thirst content on Instagram, Russell Conjugations masquerading as news articles, “day in the life” vlogs, the latest mass-market blockbuster complete with item songs that add nothing to the story, mind-numbing podcasts from irrelevant personalities, ragebait designed purely for engagement farming, an endless amount of AI slop… The list goes on.

For a society that once produced the world’s longest epics and some of the most profound philosophical texts ever written, we should aspire for something better.

The solution is not censorship or a Luddite rejection of technology. The solution is deliberate consumption, the media equivalent of choosing home-cooked meals over daily fast food. Taste, refinement, and depth require going against the mainstream.

Choose a thoughtful Substack article over doom-scrolling. Choose long-form content over shorts and reels. Choose books and serious writing instead of the daily news cycle. Reduce dependence on algorithms that decide what you watch.

Rise against the mainstream.