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Graham Hall
2025-11-14 20:53:58 -05:00
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title: 'Skip the Algorithm: Be Your Own Online Curator'
pubDate: '3/1/25'
tags: ['Tech', 'Mindfulness']
---
Recently, I found myself wishing for a device with all the modern conveniences of a smartphone, but without all the baggage that comes along with those conveniences. A device to keep in touch with people, keep organized with notes and reminders, listen to music and podcasts, and access a handful of useful online services. Turns out, I already have one!
Over the last several weeks, I've been slowly paring down what's on my phone. It started with basically anything with an endless, scrollable feed – with the exception of Tapestry, Ivory,Ice Cubes, and Bluesky, though I'll come back to those. I also turned off all notifications except for the bare essentials, like text alerts, and have made judicious use of the iPhone's "Scheduled Summary" feature for things that I still want to get notified about, but don't warrant an alert, like podcast notifications.
I've also removed any free-to-play games, with the exception of Pokémon TCG Pocket (it's been my guilty pleasure since it released 😅), and unsubscribed from Apple Arcade. My phone is not my primary gaming device, nor do I ever want it to be, so limiting my phone to games that I can just pick up and play for a few minutes here and there just makes sense.
More recently I began the next phase of my plan for a better smartphone; removing the remaining "infinite feed" apps I mentioned earlier. Bluesky was easy, I spend very little time on there, there are just a few people in the web dev and gaming worlds I like to follow. Ivory and Ice Cubes (my Mastodon clients of choice) will probably be the most missed, but I have it open at pretty much all times when I'm at my computer, so I'm sure I will adapt.
Tapestry, I think, I will leave on because I have a little bit of a soft spot for it from being a Kickstarter backer, and because my feed is just web comics and cute animals.
There are definitely more things I can do to achieve the "perfect" smartphone. It's going to take a combination of experimentation and re-training my brain, but I think it can be done.