TILs are junk food

I have a very low opinion of public TILs ("Today I Learned"). You probably guessed that from the title. Here is my reasoning.

TILs are useless. Reading TILs is like watching Shorts/Reels – just a way to pass the time. They are superficial and not valuable for meaningful learning. They don't improve your skills, they don't really teach you anything, they don't even stay in your memory for long. They are but a waste of cognitive resources.

TILs have a terrible signal-to-noise ratio. Yes, you might find a gem once in a while. But the amount of rocks you have to go through before hitting one makes TILs a terrible way to spend time. Reading TILs probably beats binge-watching TV shows. But not by a wide margin.

TILs create FOMO. Oh dear, if I don't read TILs, I might miss something important. What a terrible, frightening thought. How am I supposed to learn a ton of useful tricks if not by reading tiny snippets of everyone else's findings?

When I tell people that TILs are junk food, I get a number of objections. Let me address them.

I follow (insert name)'s TILs and they are awesome. I'm sure that's what your brain thinks. And my brain thinks that watching reels for two hours every day is great because it is fun and requires no effort. Still, reels don't do me any good. And neither do TILs.

TILs are a way to discover things. Why on earth do you need some random facts to spark your interest in something? Don't you have things that interest you naturally? If you do, why don't you read a book about them? Or an in-depth article? Make a toy project?

TILs are great for the author. Yes, they are. Keeping a personal journal and reflecting on the things you've learned is a nice habit. But reading other people's TILs is not nearly as useful. Quite the opposite, in fact.

I write TILs myself, how dare you call them junk. This isn't about you. Everyone's TILs are junk food for the reader. That's their inherent quality, regardless of how brilliant the author is (which I'm sure you are). So please don't be offended. Unless you actively choose to be offended. In that case, please be.

This is a rage bait for Internet points. It's not. It's my honest opinion about TILs. It's okay to disagree. I'm not denying you the right to read TILs. Read them all day long if you wish. I respect your choice.

As for me, the best TIL is what I learned today from a book on a subject that interests me. Not from someone's public diary of random facts about stuff.

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