In recent decades we have been able to follow the impressive evolution of technology and especially social networks, and in this context the consumption of various types of online content has also evolved at the same speed; algorithms have begun to dictate our recommendations of what content to consume and have become powerful tools for the influence of the masses. But what if I told you that there is a way to escape from recommendation algorithms and still continue consuming the content you want to see?
Believe it or not, this technology has been around for several years and ends up passing straight by many people, the RSS Feeds.
In summary, the term RSS can be understood as an acronym for "Really Simple Syndication", or "Rich Site Summary", created in 1999, this technology allows the user to subscribe to a feed of a website/platform that has such a function so that it is possible to follow its updates without requiring direct access to the site through a browser, aggregating content from various places on the Internet in one place in a more efficient and dynamic way.
Its use is usually associated with blogs and news sites, but currently the service can also aggregate updates from Youtube channels or Twitter profiles for example. When receiving an update the user receives the information in the form of text and simple images, as well as the date of publication of the post, author(s) and category(s), if available.
One of the main features of the RSS Feed is the fact that the displayed content does not pass through any kind of filter algorithms, and displays only what you want to see, without sponsored recommendations, without unwanted advertisements, and most importantly: without the need to create an online profile. That is, something that is more than necessary these days. Formerly (like in the 2000s), the use of RSS was common practice, but with the evolution of social networks it ended up falling into disuse and oblivion. If we stop to think, social networks in one way or another have tried to replace RSS Feeds, putting a visually pleasing/user-friendly frontend and a recommendation algorithm on top of everything, while still maintaining the idea of being a service to follow the updates of those you wish to.
When we discuss this issue of social networks one thing is clear: the less you use them, the better. For those who already have some knowledge about digital privacy (or simply have common sense), it is understandable that the use of these networks is harmful to both your privacy and your sanity, so much so that this issue is discussed even within "normies" circles (although I personally hate this term). When I say that RSS displays only what you want to see I mean it literally, because all entries are made by the user, which gives total freedom with what you want to consume online.
If you are reading this far I imagine you are minimally interested in learning more about the subject, well. Basically the only thing really necessary to start using RSS is a Feed reader / aggregator, it is through it that you will be able to include your website subscriptions and see them when updates appear. There are hundreds of places that offer this service, either through specialized software, through a website or even through the command terminal of your machine, but the choice here is basically subjective.
What I was going to list below was a short guide by a guy named Luke Smith, whose content inspired me to write about this particular subject here on the blog, more information could be accessed here, but not anymore. If someone have this archived somewhere please let me know.
Anyway I list here some programs of which are better known:
The aggregators that I currently use are QuiteRSS in Windows and Newsboat on Linux (even though you can also use it in Windows too via WSL2).
Entering the question of video content, it is possible to watch them without the need of a browser, using instead your video player, in this case, video players that support the opening of URL links such as MPV and VLC.here my personal recommendation goes to MPV because it is a much lighter and minimalist player, but it has better performance in relation to buffering and better online media support through yt-dlp.
B-b-but and what about Muh Social Media?
It is also possible to follow Twitter profiles through a frontend of the platform called Nitter, in which it allows a more pleasant experience when accessing the platform and without the need to create an account. Another good point is that Nitter gets rid of all the Javascript junk of the original page and presents the content in a saner way; no stupid ads, no stupid trending topics and so on. I personally recommend not using Twitter in the first place but if you really want to, go ahead.
To close the subject, I leave here the invitation for the reader to try this "new-old" way of consuming content on the Internet, as well as I hope that this text can be useful for those who like me decided to leave social networks.
Reject Social Media, Embrace RSS Feeds.