We have become thoughtful about what we put into our bodies. We read labels, count protein, think about what a diet does to us over years. Almost nobody applies the same thinking to what they put into their minds, even though the mechanism is similar and arguably more consequential. What you read, watch and listen to shapes what you notice, what you think is normal, what you worry about and what you find interesting. Over years, it shapes who you are.

The difficulty is that most of us no longer choose that diet. It is chosen for us, one item at a time, by feeds optimised to hold our attention rather than to serve it. Those are very different objectives. The aggregate, sustained over a decade, is a mind trained on whatever was most engaging rather than whatever was most worthwhile. And because the change is gradual, you do not notice it happening.

The fix is not a heroic digital detox, which rarely lasts. It is simply taking back the choice. Decide in advance what deserves your attention: the books you actually want to have read, the people whose thinking you want to absorb, the sources that leave you knowing more rather than feeling more. So, as a reflection for today: if you listed everything you read and watched last week, would you recognise the person it is building?