Consume in the Service of Creation

We scroll, we watch, we ingest — information, entertainment, distraction — a slow erosion of our potential.

A friend of mine — let’s call him Dan — sends me videos all the time. Fifteen-second clips from Facebook, Instagram, YouTube… Some are funny, some insightful, some absurd. But if I were asked to describe Dan without mentioning the videos he’s shared, I’d be at a loss. Not because he isn’t a real person, but because I don’t know what he makes. His presence in my life is defined entirely by what he forwards, not what he creates.

I don’t think Dan is unaware of this. We’ve talked about it. He, like many others, knows that the endless scroll leaves him drained. He’s self-aware enough to admit that what he’s consuming isn’t truly informing him — it’s entertaining him, at best, or just filling space, at worst. And yet, like millions of others, he keeps going.

For some, the algorithm curates a feed of distractions. For others, it delivers the illusion of knowledge — infotainment packaged as learning. A well-produced explainer video, a thread claiming to break down a complex issue, a documentary-style clip with dramatic music. It all feels like growth, but it’s a passive kind of engagement.

Watching a 90-second clip about the fall of the Roman Empire doesn’t make you a historian any more than watching an…