Getting away from the algorithms
A recurring theme in my blog and in my conversations with others is the corrosive effect that algorithmic news feeds have on the human psyche (at least my particular psyche.) Prone as I am to rage bait and click bait and all the multifarious forms of bait the internet is so good at feeding into my eyes, I cannot cope with being shown only what I want to read right then. My impulses are bad. I choose poorly. I choose in ways that make me miserable.
With that in mind, I have been trying to studiously remove the news feeds from my daily life. For a while I just decided to stay off the internet for entertainment purposes. Every time I wanted to read Reddit, I just read a book instead. Unfortunately, this lead me to feeling very disconnected with what was going on in the world. I have always believed that being informed is a basic duty of any citizen. If you don't know what is going on, you are going to be a terrible voter.
So I need some information coming in but I want no recommendations. I want the things I subscribe to and nothing more. Recently I switched to feedmail.org which has really turned things around. I read my news feed in neomutt in the terminal. I have no click bait thumbnails. I have no trending feed. I just have the stuff that, after consideration, I have decided are not terrible for me. The difference in my mood has been tremendous.