Consumption is not a bad thing

More and more I see advice like “do not consume information, make instead”. And while consumption could be a bad thing - it is a part of making something as well.

Let me explain with examples.

I dedicated a lot of my time to software development area. And I spent significant time in photography and videography.

When you start any of these activities and you would listen to people who really achieved great results (but not just “buy-me-course-to-be-great” type of people) - one of the advices they usually give is to, well, consume actually.

When it’s photography - you need to watch for lots of photographers to get inspired and teach your eyes to see. Maybe even try to recreate some works. Not to steal, but to learn. It is an information consumption.

When it’s software development - read books, read code. Again, consumption.

For the this is the question of balance: if you only produce - you might miss some key information and avoid mistakes some people before you already made. If you only consume - you never create.

The hard part is to find a balance. But also, trying to avoid fast-food information consumption too much. Watching Tik-Tok/Reels/Shorts videos give me some joy, but I am trying to limit myself how long I spent my time with this. It is very easy to get sucked in trying to watch all of them.

That does not give me any long-term value.

That kills my time.

That kills my focus.

That kills my energy.

I would not say that consumption is a bad thing, not sure why so many people started to demonise it.

Like with food. We need food to live, but we should filter what we eat.

For me it is the same with information.