Algorithm-free August

I’ve dubbed this month, imperfectly, “Algorithm-free August”, with the goal of avoiding online recommendation algorithms in favor of choosing what I want to consume or taking recommendations from real people with real opinions.

Of course, it’s impossible in my career as a software developer (and probably for most lives in the west right now) to get through a whole day, let alone a month, without using any computed algorithms: I can’t imagine how many sorts happen while I open my email, chat apps, browser, etc. For Algorithm-free August, I’m taking the colloquial definition of algorithm that you’ll find across the internet:

(social media, metonymic) recommender systems and the curation of feeds

—Wiktionary, algorithm

I see and hear this use of the word all over: in comments on videos and posts on Instagram (e.g. “I built this algorithm” in reference to a particularly strange Reel), when talking to friends and family, in chat rooms and informal news articles.

I’ve been bothered lately by what these algorithms show me. Some of it is truly great, and there is some incredible engineering behind them, but they also form echo chambers and appeal to my baser instincts. Because they provide infinite feeds of moderately interesting (or just engaging) content, it’s easy to get sucked into them for far longer than intended. Minutes turn to hours, and my neck starts to hurt. Much ink and many pixels have been spilled talking about this. I decided that I’d rather choose what I consume, or be influenced more directly by other people, rather than through the reticular proxy of a recommendation algorithm, so since the beginning of the month, I’ve been trying to keep a simple rule:

Don’t click on links, view posts, or watch videos presented or sorted by recommendation algorithms.

This rule has a lot of implications for my habits:

• No looking at Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Hacker News, Lobste.rs, LinkedIn, etc., but Bluesky is okay as long as I stick to the chronological “Following” feed.
• No watching any sort of short-form video (Instagram, YouTube Shorts, TikTok), unless I am clicking on a single link that was shared by a real person.
• No browsing online storefronts with “similar to X item you looked at” sections (Amazon, eBay, Etsy), though searching for specific items is OK.
• No browsing through front-page lists of movies on streaming apps.
• No clicking on recommended videos on YouTube. I have my history disabled right now, so there are none on the home page, but if I watch a specific video shared by a friend or from my watch later list, there are recommended videos on the side that I must ignore.
• No using auto-generated playlists or “listen to it again” or “forgotten favorites” or any other suggested sections on YouTube Music or another streaming platform.

I certainly haven’t followed every rule perfectly. I browsed movies on Tubi before settling on one that put me to sleep before the credits were through. I watched a YouTube video and saw a movie trailer recommended in the side, didn’t click on it, and then searched it 15 minute later and watched it. Does that “count” as breaking the rule?

An goals of this challenge are to waste less time and to be more intentional about what I consume. Flicking through dozens of movies before choosing one I’ve never heard of, intending to fall asleep, probably violates the spirit of the challenge, but seeing a movie trailer and choosing to search for it later doesn’t as much. I was still influenced by the Algorithm, but I also made a conscious decision about what I wanted to do. Autoplay or endless vertical videos rob me of that choice (or flip the default on its head).

It’s been a really fun experience so far. I’ve noticed a lot more free time and focused time because I don’t get sucked into endless feeds, but the biggest change is probably how I listen to music. Lately, I’ve found myself getting stuck in a loop listening to the same song or album once a day or so, then playing whatever albums or songs YouTube music recommends, or shuffling my Liked Music playlist. I don’t think “shuffle” actually shuffles, either. It tends to play similar songs every time, despite having ~800 songs on the playlist. Instead, I’ve had to choose what to listen to, so I’ve been opening websites like RateYourMusic and AOTY and looking for albums recommended by users or lists of local (Utah) bands. Or I’ve reviewed what I’ve been enjoying lately and chosen an album to put on while I work. It’s not a huge change, but I’ve been enjoying what I listen to a lot more because of it.