What is an RSS?
What RSS is and why you might want to use it.
I’m on a personal quest to eliminate reduce my use of social media platforms.
I don’t want any more algorithms, doomscrolling1, and having to sign-in apps in my life.
If this is also you, I would definitely recommend using RSS.
What is RSS?
RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) is the most reliable way to curate content on the internet. When a website publishes new articles, podcasts, or videos, it updates a special structured file called an RSS feed. Instead of visiting 20 different blogs every day to see if anything new has been posted, an RSS Reader automatically collects those updates into a single, chronological feed.
Think of it as a personal, algorithmic-free news feed.
Reasons why you might want to use RSS when consuming internet content
- No algorithms.
- No missed posts.
- Distraction-free. No comment wars, no pop-up ads, no related content.
- Privacy-friendly. No need to sign up/log-in with an account to view the content.
How does RSS work?
- Find a feed link. is the usual logo or the initials RSS.
- Copy the link, paste it on your RSS Reader.
What’s an RSS Reader?
It’s the app the curates the feed links you put on. I basically use it as a notifications app, because I prefer reading on the author’s website. The only time I’ll be using the Reader if the site is too painful for my eyes to bear.
Some Free RSS Readers
| Platform | App |
|---|---|
| Browsers | *Feedly, Inoreader |
| iOS | NetNewsWire |
| Android | *Feeder |
* Apps I personally use on a free-tier. It’s usually enough for my needs.
I admit that I still doomscroll. Gotta keep up with the memes and sometimes other things come up.↩