I use Apple News+ and thumbs down and hide the stuff I’m not interested in. It took a while, but it’s figured out I don’t care about trash articles and magazines. It’s now tuned to where the $10 a month is definitely worth it.
When I migrated from Google Reader, I switched to Feedly. They had a few hiccups along the way but they've been solid for a while now. I do most of my casual browsing through them, though a frustrating number of services (mostly social media) don't provide RSS feeds, or their feeds are unreliable. https://feedly.com
I love RSS. My wife uses Feedly, I use TheOldReader. But I agree about feed management on the source side. CNET's feed is a great example of a way to have articles I want pushed to me, and 4x as many that I don't. (They publish two posts every weekday on mortgage rates. Seriously?)
Oh wow, I'm so excited to see what everyone comes up with here. I've been slowly trying to get off of social media myself. Building up my site, journal, and now my Substack newsletter. I love the idea of taking back control from algorithms and away from the cluttered junk. So, I've been investigating this same thing. How to best engage with the content I DO want?
I quit all of social media and my life is better for it. I blocked, I muted, I tried to keep my circle small but the algorithms and the contents would always have me so incredibly disgusted with society that I was stressed and endlessly irritated. It is like a black hole these days and maybe that means I'm just old. I turned off search history on Google and so when I tap the search bar, trending searches pop up. If it looks important, I click. Newsletters are pretty much the only other way for me. I did youtube and was heavily involved in social media and that whole, insane world. It was like junior high, on steroids. Good riddance. Mentally, I'm healthier, less tense, less angry, and more willing to not write off all human contact. (Most days)
know you said youve given up on twitter (fair) but out of curiousity did you play around with blocking/muting/unfollowing people that created/shared content you didnt want to see and muting words that wore central to topics you were no longer interested in? once i did that, Twitter became a wayyy more useful news/content aggregator for me. Trending pages and lists make it pretty easy to stay in the know on topics i prob needed to hear about despite my personal content preferences
i think as a reader, we would need to have a conscious in picking the right source of info...social media is just like a poison and fostering the growth of attention seeking
This really had me thinking this week about input, especially while reading my pull list and even though this is focused on the e-world it really let me appreciate some of the indie titles I’ve been reading that don’t have ads every couple of pages that take focus away from the story... going to have to check out the minimalism book as well!
I’ve found going as close to zero as possible works best for me. Although I’m in my 40s so it’s maybe easier for my generation to do that.
I check my personal emails a couple times a day, some sports news and that’s about it. Ive gone back to buying print news where I don’t get spammed with shit and I connect with my community by supporting my local newspaper, again in print.
I managed fine for 30 or so years not being bombarded with useless information and opinions I didn’t ask for, so over the past few years I’ve whittled my interaction with the internet down to a real minimum. Even typing this right now feels too much. Does anyone need to know my thoughts on this?
No.
Why do I feel the need to share my thoughts on this?
God knows.
We really live in bizarre times.
If I really want to know something I’ll google it, but even then I’ll resist unless necessary, because again, I managed fine before having an internet device in my pocket and the world seemed a happier place.
I think if i really want to connect with the world, and the people that matter most to me, disconnecting from the online world is the only way to do it.
This is why a tiny handful of newsletters delivered by email, with my notifications switched off - so I access them when I want to and not when my phone tells me to, is perfect for me.
Dylhouse is the absolute best. We were very lucky to get him to do the logo set for our comic shop, and then update it quite recently. Maybe one of the best humans ever?
As for trying to ink out to a healthier online life, that's a struggle I have too. I haven't been able to source anything great, partly because so much of (gestures) all of this is predicated on click throughs, which I guess is why Google Reader died (with so many sites deliberately setting fire to their RSS' for clicks, and then the cascade?)
Anyway. Not that this helps ENTIRELY, but I do recommend the folks at Bellingcat for ethical journalism in areas you seem to touch on and otherwise.
I wish I could check out Blue Book sooner. I like the logo already. Sorry I can't help with finding you a "new" type of Google reader app but I know one will pop up.
I recently discovered the benefits of RSS and I started funneling the content I want into my own Discord server. I’ve been using https://rss.app/rss-feed to create feeds along with KitRobit to push them to my server. A small learning curve, but dope AF taking control on the content you want to see.
If you have an iPhone Apple News is a good app. The subscription based Apple News+ is really great, 300 or so news sources, most are magazines like The Atlantic, New Yorker, Nat Geo, Empire, etc. There’s newspapers too like the LATimes and WSJ. All of this for $9.99 per month or included in the Apple One bundle. https://www.apple.com/apple-news/
For RSS I really love the iPadOS App Unread. It’s a subscription based app but works really well, especially if you have and use the Magic Keyboard. Inoreader, which works with Unread, is the RSS service I use. It has free options but I pay $70 a year for some of the features it’s provides. I used Feedly before but it’s pricey and I think Inoreader is just as good for much less. I’d love to pull my Substack page into Unread but that’s not an option yet.
Anyway, I found this article really informative. I too try to keep away from social media and to consume a news diet that challenges me to think and at times rethink what I believe.
Spend a little time training Apple News+. It reminds me a lot of google reader, flip board, and reeder that I used in the past. I also use podcasts with hosts that interview guests, within themes I’m interested in. I hear the interview, vet the guest out and read their books.
I use Apple News+ and thumbs down and hide the stuff I’m not interested in. It took a while, but it’s figured out I don’t care about trash articles and magazines. It’s now tuned to where the $10 a month is definitely worth it.
When I migrated from Google Reader, I switched to Feedly. They had a few hiccups along the way but they've been solid for a while now. I do most of my casual browsing through them, though a frustrating number of services (mostly social media) don't provide RSS feeds, or their feeds are unreliable. https://feedly.com
James, read Cal Newport’s book DIGITAL MINIMALISM. It is the book for you.
I love RSS. My wife uses Feedly, I use TheOldReader. But I agree about feed management on the source side. CNET's feed is a great example of a way to have articles I want pushed to me, and 4x as many that I don't. (They publish two posts every weekday on mortgage rates. Seriously?)
Oh wow, I'm so excited to see what everyone comes up with here. I've been slowly trying to get off of social media myself. Building up my site, journal, and now my Substack newsletter. I love the idea of taking back control from algorithms and away from the cluttered junk. So, I've been investigating this same thing. How to best engage with the content I DO want?
James - check out Feedly. It's the closest thing I've found to Google Reader. It supports RSS and is easy to navigate/organize: feedly.com/
I quit all of social media and my life is better for it. I blocked, I muted, I tried to keep my circle small but the algorithms and the contents would always have me so incredibly disgusted with society that I was stressed and endlessly irritated. It is like a black hole these days and maybe that means I'm just old. I turned off search history on Google and so when I tap the search bar, trending searches pop up. If it looks important, I click. Newsletters are pretty much the only other way for me. I did youtube and was heavily involved in social media and that whole, insane world. It was like junior high, on steroids. Good riddance. Mentally, I'm healthier, less tense, less angry, and more willing to not write off all human contact. (Most days)
know you said youve given up on twitter (fair) but out of curiousity did you play around with blocking/muting/unfollowing people that created/shared content you didnt want to see and muting words that wore central to topics you were no longer interested in? once i did that, Twitter became a wayyy more useful news/content aggregator for me. Trending pages and lists make it pretty easy to stay in the know on topics i prob needed to hear about despite my personal content preferences
i think as a reader, we would need to have a conscious in picking the right source of info...social media is just like a poison and fostering the growth of attention seeking
This really had me thinking this week about input, especially while reading my pull list and even though this is focused on the e-world it really let me appreciate some of the indie titles I’ve been reading that don’t have ads every couple of pages that take focus away from the story... going to have to check out the minimalism book as well!
I’ve found going as close to zero as possible works best for me. Although I’m in my 40s so it’s maybe easier for my generation to do that.
I check my personal emails a couple times a day, some sports news and that’s about it. Ive gone back to buying print news where I don’t get spammed with shit and I connect with my community by supporting my local newspaper, again in print.
I managed fine for 30 or so years not being bombarded with useless information and opinions I didn’t ask for, so over the past few years I’ve whittled my interaction with the internet down to a real minimum. Even typing this right now feels too much. Does anyone need to know my thoughts on this?
No.
Why do I feel the need to share my thoughts on this?
God knows.
We really live in bizarre times.
If I really want to know something I’ll google it, but even then I’ll resist unless necessary, because again, I managed fine before having an internet device in my pocket and the world seemed a happier place.
I think if i really want to connect with the world, and the people that matter most to me, disconnecting from the online world is the only way to do it.
This is why a tiny handful of newsletters delivered by email, with my notifications switched off - so I access them when I want to and not when my phone tells me to, is perfect for me.
Dylhouse is the absolute best. We were very lucky to get him to do the logo set for our comic shop, and then update it quite recently. Maybe one of the best humans ever?
As for trying to ink out to a healthier online life, that's a struggle I have too. I haven't been able to source anything great, partly because so much of (gestures) all of this is predicated on click throughs, which I guess is why Google Reader died (with so many sites deliberately setting fire to their RSS' for clicks, and then the cascade?)
Anyway. Not that this helps ENTIRELY, but I do recommend the folks at Bellingcat for ethical journalism in areas you seem to touch on and otherwise.
I wish I could check out Blue Book sooner. I like the logo already. Sorry I can't help with finding you a "new" type of Google reader app but I know one will pop up.
I recently discovered the benefits of RSS and I started funneling the content I want into my own Discord server. I’ve been using https://rss.app/rss-feed to create feeds along with KitRobit to push them to my server. A small learning curve, but dope AF taking control on the content you want to see.
If you have an iPhone Apple News is a good app. The subscription based Apple News+ is really great, 300 or so news sources, most are magazines like The Atlantic, New Yorker, Nat Geo, Empire, etc. There’s newspapers too like the LATimes and WSJ. All of this for $9.99 per month or included in the Apple One bundle. https://www.apple.com/apple-news/
For RSS I really love the iPadOS App Unread. It’s a subscription based app but works really well, especially if you have and use the Magic Keyboard. Inoreader, which works with Unread, is the RSS service I use. It has free options but I pay $70 a year for some of the features it’s provides. I used Feedly before but it’s pricey and I think Inoreader is just as good for much less. I’d love to pull my Substack page into Unread but that’s not an option yet.
Anyway, I found this article really informative. I too try to keep away from social media and to consume a news diet that challenges me to think and at times rethink what I believe.
Spend a little time training Apple News+. It reminds me a lot of google reader, flip board, and reeder that I used in the past. I also use podcasts with hosts that interview guests, within themes I’m interested in. I hear the interview, vet the guest out and read their books.