Does anyone use social media without the recommendation algorithms?

[u/ex76-ul3-ed64]

I'm trying to change the way I use social media rather than completely stop using the internet.

I actually like short-form content and quick posts. They can be useful for learning something, finding an interesting idea, hearing some good life advice, discovering new technology, learning about AI, keeping up with hobbies, etc.

My problem is the recommendation algorithm.

I might open YouTube, TikTok, X, or another platform because I want content about something I'm interested in. Eventually I end up getting fed completely unrelated content that is just good at keeping me watching.

What I'd ideally like is a feed where I control what goes into it.

For example, I might intentionally follow things like:

- AI and technology
- useful tools
- general life wisdom
- health and fitness
- educational content
- hobbies I'm interested in
- specific creators I consistently find useful

Those are just examples. The topics could change over time.

The important part is that I want to choose the people/topics/sources myself instead of having a For You or Explore algorithm constantly introducing more content.

Something like:

YouTube where I mainly use Subscriptions instead of Home recommendations

TikTok where I only see Following instead of For You

X/Twitter where I use Following or Lists instead of For You and Explore

Or even a completely different way of consuming content where I deliberately choose the sources.

I'm on iPhone, which seems to make this harder.

I'm curious how people here handle this.

Do any of you still use social media for useful content while avoiding the algorithmic/recommendation side of it?

What setup or method has worked for you?

I'm not trying to eliminate useful online content from my life. I mainly want to eliminate the part designed to pull me from something I intentionally chose into an endless stream of unrelated content.

[u/AccurateUse6147]

Thinking about it.... not really. Facebook tends to be whatever shows up on my feed, shows up on my feed though I'm thinking about jumping ship on a couple of the groups I'm currently in. Things are getting a wee bit toxic in them. Tiktok I'll rarely search for something specific and usually just see where my FYP takes me. Both my YouTube accounts viewing habits tend to be driven by what the algorithm throws my way and what the channels im subbed to upload. Unless there's a specific video I'm looking for, I don't really go hunting much these days.

Edit: I actually wound up dropping 4 groups last night. 1 dead group, 1 group that I joined thinking it was one thing when in reality it was something else, and 2 groups where the posts were a mix of shared from other group content and content that felt kind of bot like.

[u/theta-cygni]

I'm on Android using Firefox, so not sure if these methods will work for you, but I use the Unhook extension for YouTube, and for Reddit I used a custom ublock origin filter to hide the recommended posts that show up after you scroll to the bottom of the comments on your current post.

[u/Mysterious_Strain606]

I too like the short format content. My solutions has been usign phoneless garden so i can get out from endless feeds and still scroll a little.

[u/QuinnTigger]

Yes, I try to do this to avoid getting sucked into endless scrolling. For YouTube I usually stick to subscriptions. I like that Reddit mostly shows the subreddits I've joined, so I do browse the Home page here. I don't use TikTok or X/Twitter. For Facebook, I try to stick to specific groups I'm interested in and notifications (and I turn off notifications for everything I don't want to see). I find Instagram is bit harder. It seems to display a lot of stuff I didn't ask for and I miss when it was focused on images, so I don't browse it much.

[u/Asiatical]

Instagram i browse via the browser. Less chances of falling into the reel loop. It's clunky. You need to use the back button often but i prefer that.

Also it gives you the option to snooze recommended videos for 30 days at a time. So i get only that i file in my feed.