it’s been emphasized ad nauseam the importance of getting off social media, but few people ever provide alternative methods of consuming content and information. after all, in my opinion, it’s very silly to simply block yourself off from all news and socializing online just because the few sites most people use do it wrong. so, what should you do? clearly burying your head in the sand isn’t the way to go.
why curate?
an important question you may have is exactly as follows, but i would compel you to consider the following: why settle for any less? i may be an outlier in thinking this, but the idea of “taming my algorithm” is a deeply disturbing notion. why on earth would i ever 1. willingly consume content i don’t want to, or that is maybe harmful to me and my mental health, just to see content i do want to see. or 2. sift through hours of drivel just to tell my algorithm “this is what i actually want to see.” is the problem not self-evident?
and that’s assuming that said almighty algorithm has my best interests in mind (which it most certainly does not). a vast majority of social media algorithms optimize for engagement, which means analyzing me to an uncomfortable degree just to figure out exactly not only what i like, but also what i dislike. how many times have you seen a post online that makes you so viscerally angry, so deeply moved to action, that you just have to engage with it? even if you resist the urge, the temptation is there, and your emotions have already been manipulated, with no good way to cut these things out of your intake.
to add insult to injury, the features that are meant to prevent seeing unwanted content seemingly don’t even work. from my own personal experience, and the corroborated experiences of others i’ve spoken to, even the “good” social media like bluesky has a tendency to show you nothing but political posts, no matter how hard you tell it not to.
what’s the solution?
we’ve identified the problem, we’ve ruled out any feasible solutions, what comes next? subscriptions! and i don’t mean the kind you pay for. i mean the kind that have existed since the 90s. RSS feeds are the very best way to consume content without hoping it simply gets served to you by some other mechanism. the way it works is stunningly simple: periodically, your RSS feed reader fetches a feed, which is a structured XML document containing data about posts from a website, their summary, when they were posted, etc. when fetched, it gets compared against the last version you saw, and if there’s new content, your client notifies you of a new post.
this system is very old, very well established, and odds are, some of your favorite journalists and blogs likely already use it (like me!) and frankly, if you’re reading this, you probably do too. however, in the case that you aren’t already aware of RSS feeds, you don’t have a method of subscribing to them, or you’ve been considering it and just haven’t had the urge to do so yet, keep reading!
how to start curating your feed
the first order of business would be to find yourself an RSS feed reader. there are lots to pick from available for every platform, so i would encourage you to look for one that you feel would suit your needs the best. if you want my recommendation, i like and would recommend fluent reader. it’s designed a lot like a microsoft-built application, has plenty of nice features, and is free and open source.
once you get a reader installed, it’s time to start subscribing. finding RSS feeds is usually straightforward, but can be a bit of a challenge sometimes. usually, there will be a button that looks like this, which should lead you straight to an XML document. copy the URL to this document, and put it into your RSS feed reader to start receiving posts from that feed. if you can’t find a button or link to an RSS feed, some common ways to search for it would be
- search for a button labeled “feeds” instead
- look for a sitemap
- try brute-forcing the URL (
/rss,/feed,/atom, suffixing all of these with.xmlor.rss, etc.)
what feeds should i subscribe to?
the dumb answer would be “whatever you want!” but sometimes, it can be pretty challenging to find blogs, news sources, or anything at all to subscribe to. a friend of mine recently showed me a search engine which “focuses on non-commercial content, and attempts to show you sites you perhaps weren’t aware of.” it is a beautiful piece of web and i can’t recommend it enough for finding cute little sites that resonate with you.
help, my favorite website/blog doesn’t have an RSS feed!
this is sometimes the case, and it’s unfortunate. sites like associated press, reuters, twitter, twitch, etc. simply don’t have RSS feeds, but there are a few ways around it. i haven’t used any of them personally, but i know some people have built solutions for them with some success. first, the easiest way to find a feed is obviously to simply google it. that will likely be the fastest and most efficient way to find the solution for the specific site you’re looking at.
certain sites have popped up over the years like this one (which i haven’t tested…) to generate feeds for sites that don’t have one. also some self-hostable, open source tools exist to do the same if that’s more your cup of tea.
now, you’re equipped with everything you need to know to finally cut twitter out of your life. it’s a very liberating and refreshing feeling knowing you’re fully in control of what you see and even how you see it. no more bargaining with the machine-learning overlords over how many atrocities you’re forced to witness. excellent!
