There is a good book called "7 habits of highly effective people" and it talks about "circle of concern" and "circle of influence".
It basically says be mindful of the time you spend concerning yourself with things you can't do anything about. Spend your brain cycles on things you can influence in the world.
E.g. Trump. Reading about him is a waste of your brain cycles. What productive thing are you actually doing with this information?
Informed democracy is a waste of brain cycles? You have the power to vote, you can participate in democracy. I don't think that's a waste of brain cycles. I do agree you shouldn't worry too much about things you have no control over. But the government of your country is not one of those things.
Informed democracy is not a waste of your brain cycles, but it doesn't require so much of your attention. Voting happens once every few years. You don't need to constantly inform yourself of what the government is doing regularly. When the time comes to vote, spend some time thinking about it and make a choice.
It basically says be mindful of the time you spend concerning yourself with things you can't do anything about. Spend your brain cycles on things you can influence in the world.
E.g. Trump. Reading about him is a waste of your brain cycles. What productive thing are you actually doing with this information?