i’ll add as a way to remain “plugged in” without algorithms: the radio!! for the past couple months i’ve had my car permanently set to kcrw (la’s npr station) so i get the news in little locally tuned drips throughout my day mixed with good music and i love it
This is exactly what I've done too! I also took the plunge and deleted Instagram shortly after my son was born - the hard pill to swallow is that if someone needs you to crop up on their scroll to remember you exist, or vice versa, it is totally fine to let that relationship go. I've had a few situations where I realised I actually really wanted to contact someone to whom Insta was my only comms channel, and I ended up just asking around for their number. Huge recommend.
Love this! Would also very much welcome your thoughts on the experience of living with OCD in the age of social media if you ever feel compelled to share -- I too was diagnosed as an adult and can super relate to what you mentioned about the phone as the ultimate reassurance-seeking device.
Thank you for the insights. This resonated with me. Too many people treat social media as a slot machine for attention, when it works far better as a long-term investment in trust, credibility, and meaningful relationships. The audience may grow slower, but it grows stronger.
I don't think I missed Twitter (or what it had become) for two minutes when I left.And I have come to realize that I could embrace YouTube a little more - with a little curation
the homepage idea is so quietly radical. for me the move that actually stuck wasn't an rss reader, it was just bookmarking the handful of sites i love and visiting them in a tab-by-tab loop in the morning - dezeen, it's nice that, a couple of substacks, a weather page. takes maybe 12 minutes, and at the end of it i know what's going on and no algorithm had a turn at me first. the trick was accepting that "in the loop" just means "in some loop," and i'd rather be in one i built.
I do business development. I don't like using social media, whether it's for business or personal use; I just don't feel comfortable with it. What should I do so that my Digital Agency keeps running smoothly and I keep getting good clients? I also don't offer any social media services in my agency.
By the way, I have been using Skool, Substack, and Discord (I don't want to use Facebook either). I was also using Reddit, but the rules for communities and Reddit are very strict—posting and commenting don't work out well because Reddit or the moderators just remove them.
the rothko weather page is exactly the kind of thing i bookmark and then never actually open. for me the friction with intentional consumption isn't finding the better thing, it's making it the first thing my morning opens with. the algorithm wins because it's already on the home screen and the good stuff is one click away in a folder i forgot about. designing the path of least resistance for yourself is the whole game.
the reddit-as-news bit is exactly what i landed on too. for ages i thought i needed less internet and it turned out i just needed internet i actually picked. the active-vs-passive frame is the part that finally clicked.
the internet got worse the moment we stopped choosing what to read and started waiting to be shown things
i’ll add as a way to remain “plugged in” without algorithms: the radio!! for the past couple months i’ve had my car permanently set to kcrw (la’s npr station) so i get the news in little locally tuned drips throughout my day mixed with good music and i love it
I just got an under-the-counter CD player for my kitchen that has radio, I might start doing the same!!
This is exactly what I've done too! I also took the plunge and deleted Instagram shortly after my son was born - the hard pill to swallow is that if someone needs you to crop up on their scroll to remember you exist, or vice versa, it is totally fine to let that relationship go. I've had a few situations where I realised I actually really wanted to contact someone to whom Insta was my only comms channel, and I ended up just asking around for their number. Huge recommend.
Love this! Would also very much welcome your thoughts on the experience of living with OCD in the age of social media if you ever feel compelled to share -- I too was diagnosed as an adult and can super relate to what you mentioned about the phone as the ultimate reassurance-seeking device.
oh yes that’s a great idea!!
Thank you for the insights. This resonated with me. Too many people treat social media as a slot machine for attention, when it works far better as a long-term investment in trust, credibility, and meaningful relationships. The audience may grow slower, but it grows stronger.
I don't think I missed Twitter (or what it had become) for two minutes when I left.And I have come to realize that I could embrace YouTube a little more - with a little curation
the homepage idea is so quietly radical. for me the move that actually stuck wasn't an rss reader, it was just bookmarking the handful of sites i love and visiting them in a tab-by-tab loop in the morning - dezeen, it's nice that, a couple of substacks, a weather page. takes maybe 12 minutes, and at the end of it i know what's going on and no algorithm had a turn at me first. the trick was accepting that "in the loop" just means "in some loop," and i'd rather be in one i built.
Love that Rothko site!
Feedly was a great way of aggregating everything I wanted to read. But I haven’t used it in a long time
I do business development. I don't like using social media, whether it's for business or personal use; I just don't feel comfortable with it. What should I do so that my Digital Agency keeps running smoothly and I keep getting good clients? I also don't offer any social media services in my agency.
By the way, I have been using Skool, Substack, and Discord (I don't want to use Facebook either). I was also using Reddit, but the rules for communities and Reddit are very strict—posting and commenting don't work out well because Reddit or the moderators just remove them.
What do you all suggest I do?
the rothko weather page is exactly the kind of thing i bookmark and then never actually open. for me the friction with intentional consumption isn't finding the better thing, it's making it the first thing my morning opens with. the algorithm wins because it's already on the home screen and the good stuff is one click away in a folder i forgot about. designing the path of least resistance for yourself is the whole game.
the reddit-as-news bit is exactly what i landed on too. for ages i thought i needed less internet and it turned out i just needed internet i actually picked. the active-vs-passive frame is the part that finally clicked.
Instagram is drooling over other people’s lives.
Reddit is dumb takes and noise.
Twitter is actual breaking news from all over the world.