So, I've recently been working on something that's had me thinking a lot lately about curating experiences.

I love retro gaming, and I have amassed a massive collection of games on my handhelds that I simply do not play, so the last few days I've been going through those games. Playing them one by one, deleting the games I simply don't enjoy and wouldn't spend time playing. Curating my gaming experience.

I've been working on that for years. I switched out social media that's algorithmic for a microblogging site where you have full control of your feed, and this blog in lieu of a 'professional' social media presence. I stopped paying for things like XBOX Live or Game Pass in lieu of games I actually own and physically possess either the files or discs for. I stopped using Netflix or Disney+ or any other paid streaming service in favour of paying for cinema tickets, using my DVDs or my cinephile dad sharing specific things from his collection with me. I don't use YouTube Music or Spotify, I have albums saved on my phone as files.

My phone is minimal, a tool and nothing much more. Text-based launcher, no notifications for anything other than phone calls, texts or important tasks. I check my emails once a day, I use the browser to check the weather or update my blog, I keep sound playing in the background and I mostly use it for important tasks like daily checklists, ordering my medication and banking. The only games I have are two - a logic game and a text-based MMO.

The thing I'm proudest of, though, is YouTube. I use YouTube Morphe anyways for accessibility, since removing thumbnails makes it easier for me to find things - but it has the ability to basically remove the algorithm from YouTube entirely. You can hide Shorts, hide the Home feed, hide the sections in search that are based on your algorithm, set your start page as your Subscriptions feed so the only content you see is what you choose. On that feed, you can even hide the videos you don't want to see. You can hide keywords like drama and controversy and politics, so you're not consuming mindless drama content, and you can hide the comments so there's no doomscrolling or arguments.

I need sound on throughout the day, but instead of random crap, I listen to podcasts about history and science, I consume gaming content I actually like, I watch wholesome content and because I never interact with the algorithm on my phone, my desktop feed is still old YouTube. Cat videos from 18 years ago, videos of regular people doing regular things. I've never had an AI slop video, never been bombarded with Shorts. I have podcasts saved in my playlists and even a sleep playlist full of videos I choose. All intentional.

Why do this, though?

Ever since I started doing this in 2024, I've been a lot more emotionally regulated. I'm not seeing drama or arguments every day, not seeing all the doom and gloom content on things like social media. I'm consuming content that I know will be here forever if I choose it, and I'm not dealing with things like choice fatigue, the way most people do on things like Netflix or algorithmic YouTube. I'm learning things each day, I'm consuming positive content, and my attention span has healed since I cut out all short-form content. I can play a game, watch a movie, listen to a song, knowing that no company can ever just decide I don't own it anymore.

I've basically reverted the way I live my life to a pre-social media, pre-streaming world. And trust me, I've never felt healthier.

This post was last edited 4 days, 1 hour ago.