S3 E48 Big Media’s Disruptive Product

Episode discussion topics <ul><li>What a mess: Profit-motivated niches and confirmation bias zones abound. Anything that you read or watch that only confirms what you already believe is traveling a well-worn road of confirmation bias. Treat it like junk food. Find something else to read, watch, or listen to that challenges your perception. </li> <li>Just like tobacco products, processed mock foods, and social media. Big media products (from the likes of CNN, Fox, MSN, etc.) or bogus media products (from the likes of NewsMax, OAN, etc.) are engineered to be addictive and unfulfilling so you keep coming back for more. </li> <li>Fear and anger are laced into their products to stoke our emotions and hijack our thinking with these emotional responses. Those offer a subconscious backdoor of hijacking your survival instincts via the amygdala in your brain (a.k.a. our lizard brain - of fight, flight, or flee fame). </li> <li>Watcher beware the energy vampires, this channel will suck your life and may kill you. Fear and anger shorten our lives and erode our rational minds. </li> <li>There is no warning or nutritional labeling for media, so it is near impossible to verify the validity of news (what is junk or food) without exiting your bias zone to see what other points of view are being presented on the same subject. That also sounds like work for a lot of people, but it's not more than changing the channel. But leaving the comfort of your bias zone can be scary, bring your courage and remember they're only words. The worst of which lead us to hate one another and see each other as less than human or possessed. </li> <li>Creating distance and controlling how much you let in into your life will help create more calm in your environment - big media is designed to be addictive, by triggering strong emotions. It is not motivated to be informative or nutritious, it is junk food full of sugar and cortisol, the stress hormone. Here is an article from psychology today for reference, "<a href='https://www.psychologytoday.com