Consume digital content with intent

Within this post I share my experiences, and techniques for trying to reap the rewards of modern online entertainment, without the downside of binge consumption that can too easily happen without consuming with intent.

Youtube

As youtube has aged, so the user experience has unfortunately degraded. There has been a noticeable shift from serving you the stuff you’re interested in (primarily subscribed content), to video’s that keep your eyeballs on the page for longer.

Paired with the front page now being majority clickbait thumbnails, falling into a “youtube rabbit hole” is easier than ever.

I strongly recommend curating your own experience if you value your time, here’s how I achieve this -

Curate a set of subscribed channels

For discovery there’s some fantastic previous HN threads which I always find gems on - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32220192

Bonus: If you’d like to try and ensure your watch list is well rounded, I recommend “pockettube”. You can create categories for your subscriptions, and then use the export functionality to store a copy locally, here’s mine -

Subscription list

  {
    "Coding": [
      "UCl0hPcsUmeld49qmWWSQKOg",
      "UCvjgXvBlbQiydffZU7m1_aw",
      "UClcE-kVhqyiHCcjYwcpfj9w",
      "UCSUkyvHHdLuFKkHyYxCmmcw",
      "UCxX9wt5FWQUAAz4UrysqK9A",
      "UCa6ZNjpXUYfBT9CCucusjvg",
      "UC7TizprGknbDalbHplROtag",
      "UCzoVCacndDCfGDf41P-z0iA",
      "UC3S8vxwRfqLBdIhgRlDRVzw",
      "UC0e3QhIYukixgh5VVpKHH9Q",
      "UC3xPcA6oFuiAtxMRnyVFomQ",
      "UCsUalyRg43M8D60mtHe6YcA",
      "UCCa794oAhys-HzkqdfmnjdQ",
      "UCmtyQOKKmrMVaKuRXz02jbQ",
      "UCG7yIWtVwcENg_ZS-nahg5g",
      "UC9-y-6csu5WGm29I7JiwpnA",
      "UCgu_0SnLi4Kj3q5OPYgck2A"
    ],
    "DIY": [
      "UCp68_FLety0O-n9QU6phsgw",
      "UCiDJtJKMICpb9B1qf7qjEOA",
      "UCj1VqrHhDte54oLgPG4xpuQ",
      "UCUQo7nzH1sXVpzL92VesANw"
    ],
    "Electronics / hardware": [
      "UCQEqPV0AwJ6mQYLmSO0rcNA",
      "UCmHvGf00GDuPYG9DZqQKd9A",
      "UCaEgw3321ct_PE4PJvdhXEQ",
      "UCSBspfcqX5QuK4XBLsh1rLw"
    ],
    "Food": [
      "UCiZ9jB1O8Aof6P2F9aRNJLg",
      "UCD5WWnRed32y3xGwmrDhUiQ",
      "UCqf_rFCGLODeUcw3p_Abr-A",
      "UCbRj3Tcy1Zoz3rcf83nW5kw",
      "UCaLfMkkHhSA_LaCta0BzyhQ",
      "UCiAq_SU0ED1C6vWFMnw8Ekg"
    ],
    "Gaming": [
      "UCpIY0mhhKh0IRQRDAo0Iu1w",
      "UCelqWKTcCvBZP_1_1iYZAWA",
      "UCIc3VLtBvQD0KqttqEJ4KYw",
      "UCpPFn71xVCqgi5WpLfHd4Sw",
      "UCnh59SDp1U1oF6wC8vk5-Pw",
      "UCiflacceDTPX3_SJG3Uiqkg",
      "UCM9-hXMVzQthX7WRWjX9BEQ"
    ],
    "Lifestyle": [
      "UCBa659QWEk1AI4Tg--mrJ2A",
      "https://www.youtube.com/",
      "UC-2YHgc363EdcusLIBbgxzg"
    ],
    "Music": [
      "UCGBpxWJr9FNOcFYA5GkKrMg",
      "UCQmn-iT7d8ROsaxPlEHDBpA",
      "UCXJFPZmWSN67cG33LhmfygQ",
      "UCfHJRUpF8FlM4FQ0zUtZIMA",
      "UCoGRABtFGU7ng79NqF0KuIQ",
      "UC6NGxyrjzpTRUlsDv9NZbdQ",
      "UCFbtcTaMFnOAP0pFO1L8hVw",
      "UCXVVZ9yuH3Is0J2_OwiH6ag",
      "UCwkTfp14Sj7o6q9_8ADJpnA"
    ],
    "News / Technology": [
      "UCTzLRZUgelatKZ4nyIKcAbg",
      "UCO8DQrSp5yEP937qNqTooOw",
      "UCEOXxzW2vU0P-0THehuIIeg"
    ],
    "Online Culture": [],
    "Philosophy": [
      "UC2PA-AKmVpU6NKCGtZq_rKQ",
      "UCyNtlmLB73-7gtlBz00XOQQ",
      "UCNvsIonJdJ5E4EXMa65VYpA"
    ],
    "STEM": [
      "UCxo8ooAqXiObjuaIy10ud0A",
      "UCoxcjq-8xIDTYp3uz647V5A",
      "UCMOqf8ab-42UUQIdVoKwjlQ",
      "UCivA7_KLKWo43tFcCkFvydw",
      "UCsXVk37bltHxD1rDPwtNM8Q",
      "UC06E4Y_-ybJgBUMtXx8uNNw",
      "UCY1kMZp36IQSyNx_9h4mpCg",
      "UC2C_jShtL725hvbm1arSV9w",
      "UCHnyfMqiRRG1u-2MsSQLbXA",
      "UCCWeRTgd79JL0ilH0ZywSJA",
      "UC6107grRI4m0o2-emgoDnAA",
      "UC7_gcs09iThXybpVgjHZ_7g",
      "UC9z7EZAbkphEMg0SP7rw44A",
      "UCEIwxahdLz7bap-VDs9h35A",
      "UC7DdEm33SyaTDtWYGO2CwdA"
    ],
    "Un-categorised": [],
    "ysc_collection": {
      "Coding": "Coding",
      "DIY": "DIY",
      "Electronics / hardware": "Electronics / hardware",
      "Food": "Food",
      "Gaming": "Gaming",
      "Lifestyle": "Lifestyle",
      "Music": "Music",
      "News / Technology": "News / Technology",
      "Online Culture": "Online Culture",
      "Philosophy": "Philosophy",
      "STEM": "STEM",
      "Un-categorised": "Un-categorised"
    },
    "ysc_deck": [],
    "ysc_meta": {
      "Coding": {
        "img": "/icon/new_pack/_33.png"
      },
      "DIY": {
        "img": "/icon/new_pack/_52.png"
      },
      "Electronics / hardware": {
        "img": "/icon/new_pack/_52.png"
      },
      "Food": {
        "img": "/icon/new_pack/_22.png"
      },
      "Gaming": {
        "img": "/icon/new_pack/_6.png"
      },
      "Lifestyle": {
        "img": "/icon/new_pack/_52.png"
      },
      "Music": {
        "img": "/icon/new_pack/_2.png"
      },
      "News / Technology": {
        "img": "/icon/new_pack/_52.png"
      },
      "Online Culture": {
        "img": "/icon/new_pack/_52.png"
      },
      "Philosophy": {
        "img": "/icon/new_pack/_52.png"
      },
      "STEM": {
        "img": "/icon/new_pack/_52.png"
      },
      "Un-categorised": {
        "img": "/icon/new_pack/_52.png"
      }
    },
    "ysc_settings": {
      "install_date": 1658916637980,
      "lang": "en",
      "position": 1,
      "sub_groups": {
        "Electronics / hardware": {},
        "Food": {},
        "Gaming": {},
        "Online Culture": {},
        "Philosophy": {}
      },
      "uid": "27291763893268df8a1"
    }
  }

Export your youtube subscription list using Youtube Subscriptions to RSS feed · GitHub, and copy output into OPML generator (opml-gen.ovh)
- You can now import this into Feedly (or your RSS reader of choice).
Youtube is blocked other than 1 day a month (via https://getcoldturkey.com/ on my desktop, and https://freedom.to/ on android). On this day (normally a sunday, when I perform my weekly review) I will add / remove subscriptions as necesarry.

The above solution allows me to view video’s in chronological order when it's convenient for me, without the distractions of reccomended content (I will consciensclly discover new channels when I feel like it, but this shouldn’t be every time I watch a video).

There are a plethora of privacy focused alt-tube’s, which I have moved between over time (invidious, newpipe, privacytube), and whilst there are great they do not quite provide me the control of above.

Gaming

Long ago now, this was my main offender by far of what I felt was “wasted time”. Whilst arguably not as harmful as modern social media, it certainly drained my time consistently daily, and due to the high dopamine output, I believe lowered motivation to work on additional projects, or just get out more.

The process I found to solve this was simple;

Block steam, and all other gaming platforms for ~1-3 month intervals (again using cold turkey), then have a blow out weekend before resetting the block again.

Relatively simple, but this has worked incredibly well for several years now. Still enjoy the latest games with friends, whilst having hard boundaries in place to stop you over indulging.

Social network of choice

For these I find if I totally block them, I don’t even feel like I’m missing out after the initial shock period. Some people may feel differently, and you may prefer to set usage windows / limits, but I find this is the best way for me.

If I really need an answer from reddit, twitter etc, I will use my work machine, or even spin up a VM (the small hassle to boot one up, keeps me from over indulging, and even if I did, I would just install cold turkey / delete the VM to add even more hassle).

With the above in place I find it’s possible again maintain a healthy relationship with the amount, and type of content I consume.

Hopefully at-least one of the methods here can be applied to help you on the path to consume more with personal intent, and less by algorithms.