22nd Febuary 2025
I have been watching Technology Connections now for longer than I can remember and would recommend the channel to anyone even vaguely interested in this site, but this piece feels extremely relevant to a lot of what I have been trying to say for a few years now. The video eloquently explains how we are seemingly losing the ability to curate our own worlds. I like to think that between projects such as Life In the Slow Line, Justifying JavaScript: Politeness on the Web and thoughts such as Nostalgia, web design and passion I have managed to find some ways in which I can separate myself from this reality, and regain almost total control over my own Web experience, and enjoy sharing practical ways in which you may be able to too. As Alec concludes, this is a personal choice, and with introspection and self-control can be entirely overcome.
P.S. - the video mentions the YouTube subscriptions Feed as a good way to limit the impact of algorithmic recommendations within YouTube; I find the RSS feeds YouTube provide for each channel give you far more control, such as the ability to filter by text (including completely nuking YouTube Shorts if you wish!) by using the filters built into any good RSS reader.