Unfinished Kris

The only thing I love more than a good analogy is food, so a food analogy gets to special parts of my brain. Here’s a little nugget to snack on.

Social media is to your brain as a pantry is to your body.

I get it. You need to chew before you swallow, so let me explain.

Your pantry has ingredients and spices you can build a meal with to satisfy your needs, and it has snacky things you can pop in your mouth to satisfy your wants. Social media has the same kinda stuff for your brain. There are meaty bits of info with which you can build greater knowledge, and there are snacky little treats to keep you entertained.

And that’s not where the analogy ends. We’ve all fallen victim to the chronic pantry-check. You know the CPC — checking the pantry to see if there’s anything good in there even though you checked 10 minutes ago. Sound like social media at all?

And think about it – when you’re checking the pantry over and over, you’re not looking for fruits and veggies because you’re hungry for healthy sustenance. You’re bored, and you want junk food — AKA empty calories. And when you keep checking social media, you’re not looking to enlighten yourself or feed your brain. You’re bored and you want a like or a distraction, or worse, you scroll without even thinking about it, filling your brain with empty calories.

But here’s the thing – with the CPC, you eventually give up because you keep finding the same old stuff. The contents of the pantry won’t change in 10 minutes without some effort to restock it. When it comes to social media, there is ALWAYS something new every time you check. There is an endless amount of empty calories. That would be a bit like having a grocery store as your pantry.

So, what’s the relationship in the analogy between the pantry and the body and social media and the brain? They are both places you go to feed.

So, how hungry are you, really?