You Don’t Need More Information
The missing ingredient to your life is not information. It’s connection.
2026 feels a lot like the post Information Age to me. We have all the info, all the beta, all the resources coming at us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with no holidays or vacation days.
There are many things we can do online and alone; creating a life of self-inflicted solitary confinement is often the result of being online all day. And during that time, we often scroll and search for more information. Moderation is best, and even a break from it all is recommended {by me} in order to save your mental health and actually move yourself forward.
How many “Life Hack” and “Morning Habit” articles will you read until you realize that you already know what you need to do, you just need to actually do it. When will you realize social media accounts are there to sell something to you? It’s all marketing! {Mine included, by the way}.
Now is the era of collective integration.
Collective Integration means that as humans living in this Post Information Age, it’s up to us to reclaim community and mental health through in-person, human to human interactions In Real Life {IRL.}
I have been exploring AI and experimenting with AI for the past year. AI, like every technology is a tool, and like any tool it can be used for good or for evil. If used correctly, AI can help us be more productive.
And when we are more productive in our day, instead of doing MORE, we should take the extra time AI has given us to take more time for ourselves and for our families and friends.
When we step away from the devices, we can explore people and humans. Social media is dehumanizing. Comments sections loaded with bots and trolls are dividing us and ripping into shreds of humans. This is toxic. It’s toxic for our mind, body and soul. This is not opinion, this is according to Sara Berg, MS writing for the American Medical Association (1). Even Facebook admitted they knew how toxic social media is (2).
When we infect our mind by scrolling on socials, we are doing damage to our cells and our nervous system. Stress, which produces cortisol, overloads our bodies. Cortisol overloads cause weight gain and other illnesses, according to Cleveland Clinic’s website (3). The litany of disease caused by cortisol overload reads like a Pharma executive’s dream. More disease, more meds. Whilst cortisol is a normal and necessary function of the human body, overloads, like in anything in life, are no good.
How to Integrate
Hire a life coach or find a mentor. Having someone in your corner that you can communicate with one on one can get help you integrate all you already know and get you on the path to health.
Evaluate your social activities. Focus your social interactions on people who have real conversations. Steer clear of gossip, especially celebrity gossip and negativity. Find people who want to talk, discourse, about enriching subjects that help you grow as a person.
Read. Books, magazines and real newspapers. Find a couple of good publications to read. Long form articles are good for your attention span and overall well-being. My favorite magazines are Backcountry, Alpinist, The Atlantic, The Economist, Fausto, Mountain Gazette and a few others that have great photography and great writing.
Fill your calendar with
Me time
Friends time
Family time
Cut scrolling from your day.
Stop reading garbage online.
Stop falling for listicles and hollow self-improvement articles.
Learn how to cook so you don’t have to always follow a recipe, and avoid recipe web sites with ads. With AI, you can conglomerate recipes so you can avoid those sites. Subscribe to a recipe web site and pay for it to avoid ads. Bon Apetit, NY Times Cooking, and my favorite, Lentine Alexis.
Take more time doing what you already do. Don’t add more things to learn or do. Do the things you already do with more skill and art.
Write, with pen and paper in a journal, or draw. Do something with your hands to create and integrate. Get in touch with yourself.
Get outside. Walk, hike, ride bikes, ski as much as you can. Leave the phone at home.
In conclusion, it’s time for us to take a break from all the information gathering and simply do it. You have to eat, so learn how to cook. The time you save using AI, use that to deepen your connections with humans. Leave the devices behind. Understand that the internet exists to sell to you. Pick up paper and read. Write. Draw. Do real things on real things, like with a pen and paper.
I hope you have a beautiful 2026 filled with a deepening connection to yourself and other humans.
namaste
~Tonya
1. https://www.ama-assn.org/public-health/prevention-wellness/what-doctors-wish-patients-knew-about-social-media-s-toxic-impact
2. https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/just-how-harmful-social-media-our-experts-weigh#:~:text=Social%20media%20can%20have%20both%20positive%20and,people%20vulnerable%20to%20developing%20an%20eating%20disorder**
3. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22187-cortisol
