The internet is not inherently harmful. It has made knowledge, news and human connection easier to access than ever. Yet the material concentrated in its feeds is rarely what is most valuable in society. More often, it is what is most likely to be clicked, shared, argued over and kept in circulation. The governing principle is not knowledge or judgement, but the economics of attention.

People online differ enormously in education, experience and cognitive ability. The material most likely to provoke emotion, polarise people and attract spectators is often below the average in quality. Prolonged immersion may not literally reduce one’s IQ, but it can gradually reshape one’s attention, language and habits of judgement around the rhythm the platform rewards. That is the subtler danger: not a fall in intelligence as a number, but a decline in how one uses it.

That is why not everything we encounter requires a response. Politics matters, but not every political headline or online dispute deserves hours of serious analysis. Some events contain too little reliable information; others provide no real space for discussion at all. They exist mainly to trigger positions, provoke anger and demand reactions. Taking part too earnestly can mean doing the engagement work the platform requires.

My own standard is what I call “6.18”. It is not a precise number, but a sense of where to stand: somewhat above the average, without chasing what is fashionable or treating “high-end” culture as a badge of identity. Going too far down leaves one led by noise and emotion. Going too far up can detach one from ordinary life and turn into another form of performed superiority. A position near this golden-ratio point makes it possible to understand the wider world without surrendering one’s attention to it, and to remain connected to reality without giving up independent judgement.

Mature judgement is not only knowing what deserves attention. It is also knowing what does not require a response. Keeping a measured distance from the internet, especially social media, is not an escape from reality. It is a way of preserving cognitive autonomy when the logic of traffic is always trying to pull us back towards the average.