Control your reality

Your reality is formed from what you read, see, listen to and experience. It's no longer mostly shaped by the "news." It feels like you control this. You often don't. The algorithms on your favorite platforms are so fine-tuned that they know you, often better than you do. They respond to what you actually do, not what you think or aspire to. They give you more of what you want, not necessarily more of what you need. You need to seize back control of your brain and reality. Each of us can take these four steps:

1. Seize control of your brain: That means admitting the costs of our current habits and consumption patterns. Make the hard decision to change.
2. Clean your feed: Treat your social feeds like food. You wouldn't ingest poison or mystery meats. Stop following people or accounts you can't validate as real and healthy. Start following those who help you learn more or feel better. Better yet, delete your apps.
3. Pick one anchor of broad truth: Find one reputable general news source you believe gets to the closest approximation of the truth on a routine basis. 
4. Pour in trusted sources: You can easily find smart, useful, trusted guidance on every passion or topic of interest. It doesn't matter if it's cooking, fitness, news or using AI. Think of it this way: Every minute of good content displacing doomscrolling makes you smarter. The opposite is true, too. Don't let yourself get dumber.