The phrase “low information voters” describes those who vote despite not really knowing who they’re voting for or why.
And while I don’t have a horse in this particular race (I’ve no interest in voting), I can’t help but notice how much worse the problem is becoming.
Listen to “man in the street” interviews from as recently as the 90s, and you will see not only how much more considered and nuanced in their views people were, but also how articulately they expressed them.
It’s a phenomenon that used to confuse me greatly.
After all, how is it that most are getting dumber and dumber and dumber when they can access basically the entire repository of collected human knowledge instantly via a device that fits in the palm of their hand and is also so cheap even unemployed people are expected to have one so they can access their giro?
Answer:
Nothing to do with a lack of information, but rather how they are consuming information.
Over the last couple of decades, there has been a dramatic and rapid shift away from the written word towards shorter and shorter video. At the same time, the sheer volume of material the typical person gets confronted with on a daily basis has shot into the stratosphere.
Hence, we are in a situation where most everybody is getting bombarded with contradictory soundbites that are optimised for shock value, divisiveness, and so on. Moreover, thanks to algorithms and good old neurology, people are (consciously or not) seeking this stuff out and, in so doing, rotting their brains.
And the relevance to training?
Much.
‘Cuz this phenomenon isn’t solely confined to the political sphere.
The days of the majority of people getting their fitness info from books, newsletters, magazines, long-form blogs, and similar are done. Instead, they’re getting it from ragebait “reaction” content, context-free videos of drug users indulging in hardcore shenanigans at the gym, girls using workout videos to drive traffic to their OnlyFriends accounts, and braindead takes from alleged professionals who couldn’t write a 500 word article if their life depended on it.
So it’s no wonder that the typical trainee is fatter, weaker, slower, and more prone to injury than he has ever been.
My solution to this problem is actually very simple.
What I recommend to those who need to hear it is as follows:
* Pick a small handful of voices who have the ability and stones to commit to writing down what they teach,
* Learn as much as you can from those people, first by consuming their writings and then supplementing with whatever video or audio content they have created,
* Put what you have discovered into practice (an important step that is often missed),
* Once you are satisfied you’ve learned everything they have to teach, select new voices and repeat the process.
I cannot think of a better strategy to avoid becoming a “low information lifter”.
Apart from becoming a Phil Tyreman Letter subscriber, but obviously I’m biased in that assessment.
Anyway, if you would like to learn what you’ll get when you subscribe, visit the below linked page (appropriately, the page is long and almost entirely text – to filter out those who struggle to read):
https://philtyreman.co.uk/information/
Thank you,
Phil Tyreman