When media users replace endless scrolling with intentional reading, they feel more connected, better informed, and less overwhelmed within just two weeks. That is the conclusion of an experimental study by DPG Media in collaboration with Øutlier and In Orbit.

“You are the media you eat,” wrote strategist, author and speaker Faris Yakob. In his book Paid Attention, he introduced the concept of the ‘media pyramid’. Based on the idea that the media we consume influences our ideas and mood in much the same way food nourishes our body, the pyramid illustrates what a balanced media diet should look like.

Inspired by this idea, the study explored how different media environments affect people’s experiences. Two groups of four young adults – deliberately selected as a relatively homogenous sample for research purposes – had to spend 14 days consuming exclusively either Dutch news media or social media, reversing their usual media habits. Participants documented their experiences throughout the experiment and reflected on them during a studio session after the two-week period.

Media consumption out of balance

Just as the classic food pyramid offers guidance for a healthy diet, the ‘media pyramid’ helps define what a balanced media diet looks like. The principle is straightforward: passively consumed media filled with ‘empty calories’, such as endless social media feeds, sit at the top and can reduce wellbeing over time.

Moving down toward the broad base, the media diet becomes more nourishing: active choices such as in-depth journalism, books, art and conversation contribute positively to psychological wellbeing. Yet for many people, daily behaviour tends toward the opposite –consuming the pyramid upside down.

For marketers, this offers a critical insight: different layers of media correspond directly with different qualities of attention. Algorithm-driven ‘fast media’ from global tech platforms delivers rapid reach, but the attention is shallow and the surrounding context can at times be outright toxic. Long-term brand building thrives instead in the concentrated engagement offered by the ‘slow media’ at the base of the pyramid. Yet, the vast majority of Dutch advertising spend flows overseas to platforms that neither create nor curate content, while allowing misinformation and other harmful side effects to flourish.

We do not underestimate the value of social media –almost everyone uses it with enjoyment. The issue is balance, for both consumers and advertisers. Effective media planning requires a shift away from blindly prioritising reach and cost, toward strategically valuing high-quality attention in responsible environments.

Experimental research

To investigate how algorithm-driven social media feeds versus editorial journalism affect people’s attention, mood, routines and perception of the world – and ultimately their receptiveness to advertising – DPG Media and Øutlier, along with creative production agency In Orbit, designed a two-week deprivation experiment.

Rather than simply observing existing media habits, we assigned eight participants to one of two controlled media consumption conditions consisting of either exclusively social media platforms or exclusively Dutch journalistic media.

We recruited a deliberately relatively homogenous group in terms of life stage and lifestyle: young urban professionals or students aged 19–34 with similar daily routines and media habits. This methodological decision helped reduce external variation and isolate the effects of the media environment itself.

Participants documented their experiences throughout the experiment through self-recorded video diaries and screen recordings, allowing the team to capture reflections and behaviours in real time. After the two-week period, participants were invited to a studio session to reflect on their experiences and discuss how the media diet had influenced their emotions, focus and worldview.

Faris Yakob was involved to assess how his theory played out in practice, contributing his perspective through two in-depth interviews that helped contextualise the behavioural observations.

Findings

The results showed a sharp contrast. The social media group experienced:

• Constant stimulation
• Fragmented attention
• Mental restlessness
• A feeling of being less social.

The local journalism group, by contrast, felt:

• Calmer
• More focused
• More mentally balanced.

Supported by insights from existing literature, the researchers conclude that context is critical.

At a time when media can fill almost every available moment, content is abundant, but attention is scarce. As a result, the environments in which messages appear have become increasingly important in determining whether information, including advertising, is actually absorbed.

Advertisements appearing in trusted editorial environments benefit from higher-quality attention and the calmer mental state of the reader, underlining the importance of a balanced media mix for advertisers.

The intention is for this experiment to be followed by a larger-scale scientific study to further quantify the findings.

Credits
Client: DPG Media – Saskia Caelen, Dennis Hoogervorst
Research: Studio Øutlier – Joey Zeelen
Production: In Orbit – Jesse Plum
With special thanks to Faris Yakob

Article by Joey Zeelen, founder and managing director, Øutlier and Dennis Hoogervorst, research innovation lead, DPG Media