Why we are addicted to insight porn

November 11, 2022

There is self-help content thrown at us from all sides. Our Youtube feed telling us how to lose weight with this new 30 days challenge, or how we can drastically improve our sleep quality with just these 5 simple steps. We keep clicking through this content under the illusion that it helps us achieve any of our goals. So we sit down, click through ‘insight’ videos and read ‘insight’ books but forget to take any action. My friend Jakob wrote a great article about this some weeks ago. ‘No more insight porn’. I think this form of content is often a blocker for our own growth and I want to share my thoughts around why I think this form of content is so appealing.

First, I think this ‘insight’ category is so appealing because we put consuming content (learning) and taking action into the same box. Both learning about better exercising routines and actually exercising gives us a feeling that we are progressing towards the goal of getting healthier and fitter. Because it is easier to watch a video than hit the gym, we watch the video. We follow the path of least resistance to get to our goal. In this case, the goal: ‘We want to feel like we are doing something for our health’.

Two, when consuming content (’learning’), there is little to no risk of failure. Watching a video on ‘7 ways to make $100k online in 2022’ (yes this exists), gives us a feeling that we could achieve the same. Our self-image inflates and becomes: ‘If I want to, I can become a successful internet entrepreneur’. By not taking action, we can preserve this self-image. So we consume instead of taking action, all risk free.

This does not mean that this form of ‘insight-porn’ is inherently bad. I even think it has a place, especially as form of entertainment. However, I think it’s important that we are truthful to ourselves about what goal we pursue with the actions we take. Do we hide behind the facet of learning and gaining new insight because we want to get the feeling of making progress without having to take any risk? I know at least for me this has slowed down my growth in the past and I continuously have to remind myself that the fastest way to make progress requires taking actions.

Reflecting on what makes this form of content so appealing, helped me to be more conscious about how I design my own growth. One way I am experimenting with right now is to reframe insights into concrete actions. I share the experiments I create every Sunday. If you are interested, you can join me here.