I’m finishing up Clay Johnson’s The Information Diet, which I am enjoying immensely. I’ve been at a couple events with Clay, but haven’t had the chance to sit down and shoot the shit with him. From what I’ve seen and read, though, he seems like an immensely likable fellow. Which is to say that he is already forgiven for one of my great lexical pet peeves: superfluous, unremitting use of “it turns out that …”
The phrase is used with little to no merit at least 18 times throughout the book:
- “It turns out that sitting for long periods of time isn’t particularly good for you.”
- “It turns out that foods that are bad for us have analogues in the world of information.”
- “While our collective sweet tooth used to serve us well, in the land of abundance it’s killing us. As it turns out, the same thing has happened with information.”
- “It turns out that if I look back at the times in my life when I have had a recognizably bad information diet, they’re the times when I’ve been knee-deep in politics.”
- “It turns out our brains are remarkable energy consumers.”
- “Through the tests of trial and error, our media companies have figured out what we want, and are giving it to us. It turns out, the more they give it to us, the more we want.”
- “Even if you exercise regularly, it turns out that sitting for long periods of time can be deadly.”
- “But now we’re living in a world of abundance, and as it turns out, information obesity has some pretty serious consequences for our productivity, our health, and our society.”
- “It turns out that dopamine not only puts us into a seeking frenzy, but it also distorts our sense of time.”
- “It turns out that as energy makes its way up the food chain, its transfer gets less efficient.”
- “It turns out that constant focus isn’t all that great, and that allowing a bit of distractibility into our lifestyles can have some benefit.”
- “It turns out laughter increases our heart rate in a good way, increases our cardiovascular health, and burns calories.”
- “It turns out that a sense of humor might just be a vital part of our brain’s ability to rewire itself.”
- “Physical obesity, it turns out, may be a social contagion.”
- “… it turns out that our poorest counties are also our most obese.”
- “It turns out that electing people—the skills of people like David Axelrod and Karl Rove—are advanced, learned skills that require years of experience to get right.”
- “It turns out the more local your sports diet, the more rewarding it can be too.”
Now try reading those same sentences without the ‘it turns out.’
It turns out that ‘it turns out’ isn’t necessary at all.