A “NOVA” style theory of information consumption.

The NOVA classification is a method of grouping foods according to how processed they are, the extent to which they are processed and the purpose of the processing. There are 4 groups into which foods are classified.

1 Unprocessed or minimally processed foods 2 Processed culinary ingredients 3 Processed foods 4 Ultra-processed foods

There is guidance in relation to these groups but the underlying broad recommendations are to make Group 1 foods the basis of your diet, use Group 2 for seasoning and cooking, limit Group 3 and avoid Group 4. I’m definitely not here to make recommendations in relation to diet, but I was musing the other day on a NOVA-style view of information and or media consumption.

The recommendation of consuming unprocessed food can also be applied to consuming information, media or even “experiences” it might be called. In the same way, I attempted to group these into 4 categories, with sub-groups of a and b (A being high-level, B lower-level)

Group 1 - Unprocessed Reality

(a) Real world experiences (b) Personal Interactions and Conversations

Group 2 - Lightly Processed Knowledge

(a) Peer-reviewed, formal education (b) Books (much like food - best to consume a wide variety of quality and views)

Group 3 - Processed Mass Media

(a) High-quality regulated Outlets (b) Low-quality regulated Outlets

Group 4 - Ultra Processed Information (a) Official Social Media Accounts (Journalists, Institutions) (b) The unregulated noise

In terms of consumption, I think a 40/35/20/5 distribution is a useful guide.

As an analogy, I imagined a day out at a local attraction, like a castle or country house.

Group 1 - How you experienced the day out, how the weather felt on the day, how you related the experience to a friend.

Group 2 - A history book or text book about the castle. Thoughtful, researched, structured and intentionally created.

Group 3 - An article or review as to whether the castle is a good day out. Does it work well for kids? How are the facilities etc?

Group 4 - People ranting about the parking and quality of the food in the cafe.

Use this as a lens for media consumption rather than a strict classification of time, aim to spend around 40% of your time in Group 1, in lived experience and conversations. Consume 35% from Group 2, steady, calm, deep information. 20% from group 3, enough to stay informed, not to get overwhelmed and 5% of your time is probably more than enough to glean anything of use from social media.

It’s not a rigid set of rules and I certainly don’t advocate measuring your time to account for how much you spend in each one, but if you are skewed towards Groups 3 and 4, much as if your diet was skewed towards ultra-processed food, why would you treat your brain any worse than your body?