You would have heard the phrase "You are what you eat”.

I recently had a conversation with a friend that shifted how I thought about this idea.

In my formerly fairly materialistic mindset, I interpreted this phrase in the most literal sense: “You are the atoms that you eat.” 

Makes sense, right? At least based on how our bodies work. We consume food, we digest the food, we use it to grow and repair and conduct countless biological processes. The food we consume becomes part of us. 

But here was another way to look at this, which I’d never really considered (again, this materialistic mindset of mine clouded my ability for better judgment).

We don’t just eat food. 

We choose the food we consume. 

Our beliefs influence the choices we make. The food we buy, the time we spend preparing it, when we eat it and how we eat it. 

All those choices are influenced by our beliefs, values, habits, and identity (and some other important factors that I might not be able to consider below). What we eat becomes a strong expression of our mindset - of the person we are. 

So as I was contemplating this, the phrase "You are what you eat" quickly became "You become what you consume", and taking this one step further: 

"You become what you believe".

Because what we consume is a reflection of our beliefs, values and mindset. 

But let’s shift gears and transfer this idea to another area of consumption: Technology. 

The internet, mobile phones, and social media have all developed at such a rapid rate (one that we are frankly still very much adjusting to) and fundamentally changed how many of us live every single day.

These developments have been an enormous source of empowerment for many. It is easier than ever to create brands and businesses (like this one). Share and access knowledge, find communities of like-minded people, and create opportunities - previous generations wouldn’t even have dreamt of. 

While we can all agree on the above statement, I am sure we all have had our fair share of negative experiences and have seen first-hand the negative impact this rapidly evolving technology can have on us as humans (and the world around us). 

Because, yes, while technology itself is not the problem. It does come with trade-offs. 

Many of the tools we are using might be free, but the true cost we pay is paid in privacy and attention. 

The trade of privacy for access to productivity or convenience might seem like a bargain. 

But as these systems and tools have become more and more sophisticated, they have now gained all the knowledge and expertise to capture and direct our attention. 

As these tools narrow in on your particular likes or guilty pleasures, the advertisers and the algorithms will feed us the content we then consume. The power to consciously choose our content becomes diminished. 

Remember the idea of "You are what you eat."? 

The article we read (that’s been fed to us). 

The video we watch (that’s been fed to us). 

The reels and stories and posts we look at (that’s been fed to us). 

All of these consumables accumulate. They shape how we think, what we value, what we believe in and what we aspire to.  

At LightStack, we believe all of these little choices matter. 

That’s why, while building our platform, we have made some very deliberate choices and decisions. 

We want to prioritise people over data collection. 

As it says in the manifesto I wrote when I first started this project: 

1. Respect all users. Your personal data will be protected as well as the internet allows. 
2. Your data will not be sold or shared. Stay independent and sovereign. 
3. Debt will be avoided. 
4. Advertising free.

(If you want to read the other points of the manifesto, you can check it out here). 

For example, we will not track your activity online. 

In a typical surveillance system, cookies would be placed on pages and used to help target advertising. You might have noticed that we have no cookie banner; we don't need one, because we don't track you. It is that simple. 

We do collect and report to you some anonymous page statistics and do some simple filtering to prevent duplicate page impressions, but none of this requires us to store any identifying information on your computer.

We also don’t offer Single Sign On - that includes sign in with Google, Facebook or any other third-party provider. 

Yes, that might be a slight inconvenience, and you will need to create a password (hopefully a unique one, stored in a password manager), but you won't be tracked to our “door”.

These are just a few of the examples of decisions we have made, and they may seem small, but we believe all these small choices accumulate. 

Our choices are a result of our beliefs, of our consciousness. 

If we truly become what we consume, then let’s make the things we consume a bit more conscious.