Taking Control of My Media Diet:
In this time of doom scrolling, push notifications, and algorithms designed to keep us engaged for as long as possible, I’ve found something that helps me in pursuit of a healthier relationship with information: RSS.
RSS has been around for a while now. I’ve known of its existence but not of its true utility, which seems to be of increasing importance in our lives of choosing focus. For someone like myself, belonging to a generation of adolescents growing up only knowing of social media, RSS represents something increasingly rare: a tool that serves its user rather than any platform.
Wait, is RSS still alive?
RSS was introduced in 1999 by Netscape. Despite its utility, maybe RSS never achieved mass adoption for several reasons:
- It requires a little bit of understanding and an extra step (subscribing to feeds and using a reader)
- The concept of “pulling” content versus having it “pushed” to you requires more intentionality
- Social media platforms aggressively positioned themselves as easier alternatives
- There’s no financial incentive for big tech companies to promote RSS—they can’t easily monetize it with ads
Why this is great
Despite (or perhaps because of) these factors, I’ve adopted RSS for information management:
1. Control Over My Sources
With RSS, I decide exactly which sources appear in my feed. No algorithm is deciding what I should see or hiding content from sources I’ve chosen to follow.
2. No Distractions
My RSS reader shows me the content I want without surrounding it with ads, “recommended for you” sections, or any other attention-grabbing elements designed to keep me on a platform.
3. Efficient Information Processing
With my RSS reader, I can quickly scan headlines from all my sources, decide what’s worth my time, and mark the rest as read or delete if they’re irrelevant to my interests. This takes minutes compared to the endless scrolling that happens on social media.
4. Healthier Habits
I feel heaps more productive when I habitually reach for my RSS Reader in the spare moments of my day. I’m learning something and reading from where I left off. With my current RSS reader configuration, I can shortlist, tag, and archive. My highlights can be shipped as reference notes to my second brain. I’m thinking to share how I setup my RSS and highlighting templates for my note taking system in a later note some day.
4. Chronological Order
RSS feeds show content in the order it was published, not based on engagement metrics or algorithmic predictions of what might keep me clicking.
5. No Social Media
I’ve dramatically reduced my social media usage. I no longer have to expose myself to social media in order to keep current with events (only to find myself drawn into discussions in r/AITA or mindless scrolling through an echo chamber).
6. Discovery Without Algorithms
Sort of an addendum to point #1, I discover new content through the recommendations and links from sources I already trust, rather than through black-box algorithms optimized for engagement.
See also: The Garden and the Stream, Tiny Experiments