My biggest inspiration in this area was Cal Newports book Digital Minimalism which is a really quick read but you can get the idea from a quick summary.
But what I do is basically remove any algorithmic content from your day to day life - so no youtube account, no instagram, no reddit, no linkedin etc, but for me on Saturdays I go and che…
My biggest inspiration in this area was Cal Newports book Digital Minimalism which is a really quick read but you can get the idea from a quick summary.
But what I do is basically remove any algorithmic content from your day to day life - so no youtube account, no instagram, no reddit, no linkedin etc, but for me on Saturdays I go and check a couple subreddits and I don't follow on any youtubers but this is when I would go catchup if there was a specific youtube creator or instagram creator I wanted to catch up on. I may also get caught up on Hackernews over the weekend but have finally gotten away from scrolling people bickering in the comments.
I take it a step further and use Cold Turkey Blocker + Beeminder to enforce this pattern because I grew up using these sites and I tried and failed too many times to follow my rules otherwise.
Similarly on my phone I have very few apps installed and deleted anything with algorithmic content - for example, I liked Snapchat for keeping up with a few friends, but I kept getting pulled into refreshing or watching the stupid but addicting reels.
For what I actively consume - podcasts, books, and newsletters I have a lot of subway time I use or time before I go to bed. I've found that the podcasts and newsletters I consume tend to point me in the direction of other high quality media, but a lot of podcasts due tend to be shilling one book or another so it can be a bit of a trap. In a perfect world I would also just move all my newletters (i.e. Matt Levine, The Diff/ Capital Gains, AlphaSignal, Morning Brew) to also being consumed on Saturdays but I give myself a bit of slack to read them during the day if I'm bored. I don't watch as many movies and tv as I used to but often I hear about the good mass market stuff from my friends or SO or just generic unadvoidable advertising.
Obviously I've put a lot of thought and effort to this which someone might ask is it worth it? And I would say now that I have it nailed down my work performance is way better, focus is way better, I now have a lot more time to pursue things that matter to me like training seriously for marathons, changing jobs, canceling less dates with SO/ time with friends because I'm less stressed about work, etc. My vice was reddit scrolling/ deep diving and it was becoming a HUGE issue for my focus/ life in general but other people may have better ways to self regulate on this.
I've been on a very similar journey, and largely removing algorithmic feeds has been huge for how much I enjoy, get out of, and can control my consumption.
For 'pure' entertainment (like video games, fiction books) I've learned to check in every once in a while to confirm I'm actually enjoying it, rather than feel a sense of compulsion or a sense of duty (which is, clearly, not applicable to fictional people/events).
My biggest inspiration in this area was Cal Newports book Digital Minimalism which is a really quick read but you can get the idea from a quick summary.
But what I do is basically remove any algorithmic content from your day to day life - so no youtube account, no instagram, no reddit, no linkedin etc, but for me on Saturdays I go and check a couple subreddits and I don't follow on any youtubers but this is when I would go catchup if there was a specific youtube creator or instagram creator I wanted to catch up on. I may also get caught up on Hackernews over the weekend but have finally gotten away from scrolling people bickering in the comments.
I take it a step further and use Cold Turkey Blocker + Beeminder to enforce this pattern because I grew up using these sites and I tried and failed too many times to follow my rules otherwise.
Similarly on my phone I have very few apps installed and deleted anything with algorithmic content - for example, I liked Snapchat for keeping up with a few friends, but I kept getting pulled into refreshing or watching the stupid but addicting reels.
For what I actively consume - podcasts, books, and newsletters I have a lot of subway time I use or time before I go to bed. I've found that the podcasts and newsletters I consume tend to point me in the direction of other high quality media, but a lot of podcasts due tend to be shilling one book or another so it can be a bit of a trap. In a perfect world I would also just move all my newletters (i.e. Matt Levine, The Diff/ Capital Gains, AlphaSignal, Morning Brew) to also being consumed on Saturdays but I give myself a bit of slack to read them during the day if I'm bored. I don't watch as many movies and tv as I used to but often I hear about the good mass market stuff from my friends or SO or just generic unadvoidable advertising.
Obviously I've put a lot of thought and effort to this which someone might ask is it worth it? And I would say now that I have it nailed down my work performance is way better, focus is way better, I now have a lot more time to pursue things that matter to me like training seriously for marathons, changing jobs, canceling less dates with SO/ time with friends because I'm less stressed about work, etc. My vice was reddit scrolling/ deep diving and it was becoming a HUGE issue for my focus/ life in general but other people may have better ways to self regulate on this.
I've been on a very similar journey, and largely removing algorithmic feeds has been huge for how much I enjoy, get out of, and can control my consumption.
For 'pure' entertainment (like video games, fiction books) I've learned to check in every once in a while to confirm I'm actually enjoying it, rather than feel a sense of compulsion or a sense of duty (which is, clearly, not applicable to fictional people/events).