The Old Reader: behind the scenes

[theoldreader]

The Old Reader RSSurrectionsGiveaway

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you stay angry, manipulated and being sold to the system of algorithms that feed on your every move. You take the red pill - you read great content, unfiltered by algorithms and connect to the things you care about.

Will you be THE ONE?

During the month of December, any user that plugs into their Old Reader account will be eligible to win a $25 gift card to AMC Theatres to see The Matrix Resurrections. “Whoa!” We’ll be doing 10 random drawings throughout the month. Winners will be notified through the email address associated with their account.

[theoldreader]

I Want Slow Internet

Wired had a great post about the “slow web” or Artisanal Internet. The idea is to embrace independent, decentralized technology, the way the slow food movement embraces locally produced, traditionally-prepared foods. It’s an interesting idea but I’m guessing not one most people are ready to embrace. Heck, I wasn’t even sure it would be 100% my jam. My biggest concern is that in this analogy, Facebook is McDonald’s, and, like McDonald’s, is probably never going away. Both are unhealthy and addictive, and very hard for most people to quit. I’ve been off Facebook for about 5 years now and left Instagram maybe 2 years ago (although I didn’t shut down my account). But most of my friends still use both of those platforms. (And I do mean my real friends — I have no idea what the randos I barely knew in high school are up to now that I’ve left.)

Big Internet keeps coming up with new ways to hook us. My kids have started to use Snapchat and one of them got backdoor-trapped into the social network known as Fortnite. Policing these really does seem a lot like policing my kids’ diet. We’ve taken the moderation and education approach for the most part and it seems to be working. But then I suppose they’ll just have their whole lives to battle how much they use social applications — like we’ve all had to manage how much Ben and Jerry’s is acceptable.  The good news is that there are plenty of artisanal web apps out there. I like think The Old Reader is one. That is, apps that help you learn, connect, or get things done without spying on you or manipulating what you see for their profit. But start calling them Artisanal Web Apps at your own risk... I have a feeling you might get slapped in the face if too many people hear you talking like that. Just like farmer’s markets haven’t wiped out fast food, the slow web is probably never going to take down Facebook or displace Google. The issue is that there is no alternative to an advertising-driven business model that really works. But if developers can learn to live without venture capitalists, without trying to grow exponentially, and offer a safer, less polluted Internet, we can get along just fine.  

[theoldreader]

On The Future of Media

Jim Nelson signing out after 15 years as chief editor at GQ:

We hear a lot about the Future of Media, about the inconvenient truth of disruption and the promise of this or that way forward. Sometimes I think no one knows anything. And then I realize the answer is as obvious as it ever was. See, throughout my years here, there was always something that was going to come along and revolutionize everything—the iPad, Vine, Facebook Live, IGTV—but to my mind, nothing ever replaced, or will replace, what happens when smart and talented storytellers put their hearts and minds together to create work they're excited about. That's the only key to the past and future of media, and the only thing worth aspiring to.

Yep.

[theoldreader]

It’s Getting Dark This Halloween

Halloween is the one holiday that’s best celebrated in the dark. Which is why The Old Reader is excited to be able to introduce the all-new Dark Mode. It’s time to embrace the dark side of reading on the web.

Okay, Dark Mode really has nothing to do with Halloween, but this seems like the perfect time to introduce it to everyone. It is all about readability, reducing eye strain, and making your experience using The Old Reader better.

Dark Mode was one of the most commonly requested features we’ve had from our users and there is even a user-created plugin that does a similar thing. With this new, built-in feature, all you have to do to use it is hit the “d” key while using The Old Reader, and voilà, you’re in Dark Mode.

Dark Mode is just one small way we want to keep The Old Reader moving forward. Give it a try, we think you'll really like it. Thanks again for all the great feedback and happy darkmoding!

[theoldreader]

Can We Just Ignore the Flaming Dumpster?

Vox’s Carlos Maza had a great piece called “Why every social media site is a dumpster fire.” He hit all the usual notes- Russian trolls, misogynists, and conspiracy theorists. 

But he also hit on something bigger- the social media dumpster fire is not an accident or something that got out of control. What we have now is an intentional, man-made disaster. The fire was set on purpose and investors poured on the gasoline. As Maza says,

The problem with these social media sites isn’t that a few bad apples are ruining the fun. It’s that they’re designed to reward bad apples.

Even Sean Parker, the first president of Facebook says, “It's a social-validation feedback loop ... exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you're exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.”

Parker is probably giving himself too much credit as an evil genius, but it’s obvious that when Facebook exploded, he and his colleagues were more than happy to fuel the conflagration. 

Breaking Up With Social Media 

We certainly weren’t the first to warn people that its time to turn off social media. If you watched HBO’s new documentary Swiped, the film made the case that the gamification of social apps is breaking human relations. It's a terrifying a portrait of a generation addicted to social apps.

We all know social media is manipulating us. Let’s stop taking this stuff seriously. It’s not real. If something makes you angry, wait and read next-day’s take. Don’t react with a smiley face or frowny face. Think about stuff.  Can you even remember what social media outrage fest was consuming all of your mental energy last week? Human nature can be nasty and ugly, but we don’t have to let the social media platforms profit from it. 

[theoldreader]

Thanks, Google!

It’s been just over five years since Google shut down the Google Reader. I was surprised to see a lot of people are still bitter with them about it, even though *ahem* independent alternatives continue to exist and thrive.

I get it though. I was one of the millions of people who got my news from Google Reader. But it was infuriating to watch them kill a useful tool and then invest billions in magic glasses, killer drones, and self-driving cars.

So while it’s okay to be bitter, I think most of us probably realize we’re all better off with them gone. RSS took a serious hit that day, and use remains down. But in many ways, RSS is in a healthier and more sustainable position. 

It’s now clear that the demise of the Google Reader was first really loud warning that you can’t rely on a publicly traded, profit-driven Silicon Valley tech company to deliver content. There is no way that story ends well. They will feed you sponsored crap, undermine your democracy, or pull the rug out from under your feet entirely. 

I’m not going to pretend life is necessarily easier with Google gone from the game. The problem is that the tech giants are successful because they make things so easy. I know that RSS may never have as many users as it once did when Google was invested in it. 

But online publishing isn’t supposed to be easy. And being an informed citizen isn’t supposed to be easy, either. The idea that we just casually check our phone every hour or so and Google, Twitter, or Facebook would give us a quick dose of everything we need to read is a fantasy. 

When Google got out of the RSS game, those of us who remained realized that yes, we can survive without them. Five years later, RSS is still the best, most unfiltered way to get content you want. There’s a greater diversity of choices and no one company dominates everything. So let’s stop hoping Facebook or Twitter or someone else will do our job for us. Let’s stop waiting for someone to tell us what we want to read. Let’s stop publishing what they want us to publish. We can do better without them.      

[theoldreader]

Nice-to-haves are ruining your life

I had about four hours of highway driving yesterday. Even though I probably could’ve navigated it on my own, I opted to use Apple Maps, which is integrated with my car’s Apple CarPlay "infotainment center." It was nice. It told me how many miles I had remaining and my expected time of arrival. But it wasn’t a life changer.

With all that time to kill and not a lot to keep me occupied, I started thinking about how most new technologies marketed directly or indirectly as being life changing wind up changing our lives for the worse.

Email. Great on it’s own, but now that we all have 24-hour mobile access it means we’re expected to be available and responsive 24/7. At a minimum it’s a disruption with the potential to turn a nice relaxing Saturday afternoon into a stressful workday.

Texting. Nice way to keep in touch with friends, schedule meet ups, etc. But it comes with the pressure of always having to be responsive. I don’t know about you, but I feel guilty when I can’t respond to a text within 10-15 minutes.

Social Media. It was so fun to catch up with High School buddies… but turns out it’s making people mentally ill and ruining our democracy.

Streaming Video. What’s the biggest struggle parents have with technology?Limiting screen time. What’s the benefit?  I don’t know… it keeps the kids quiet?But limiting screen time has been proven to be important for mental health and development. Kids play video games while watching YouTube videos of other kids playing video games. For real. This is a standard behavior.

I’m no Luddite. I believe internet and mobile technologies offer tremendous opportunities for positive life and world change. We need to consider when the nice-to-have features are actually worse for us. This is important work. The most features and newest technologies don’t need to win. We don’t need to hand over quality of life for nice-to-haves.

Being hyper-connected to people should serve PEOPLE’s best interests.  

Being informed is only a benefit if the information is good.

So while that maps experience I had yesterday was nice, the only way I can envision it changing my life would be for the worse. The consequences of losing my privacy perhaps?  I don’t know, I only know that trusting these mega technology corps has proven time and again to be bad for us. Life changing indeed.

[theoldreader]

Reader Profile: Seth Godin

Seth Godin has been one of the most influential people on the web for at least 20 years. In 1999, his book Permission Marketing redefined digital marketing. 17 books and 7,100-plus blog posts later, he remains one of the most thoughtful and interesting writers about how humans communicate and connect in the modern age. It’s especially impressive because he largely eschews social media and remains committed to blogging and book publishing. Though his blogging has gone from a superhuman five posts a day to a merely heroic once a day, he remains one of our favorite writers. We asked him about where inspiration comes from, how modern marketers have abused his ideas, and where the next Seth Godin might come from. 

For your April Fool’s joke this year on your blog, you pretended that you were out of ideas. That’s obviously not going to happen any time soon, but seriously, where do you get your inspiration- whose writing gets you excited these days? Who do you read to get your creative wheels turning? 

The joke was a terrible backfire. I fooled too many people, and I’ve thought a lot about why. I think it’s because folks think we need inspiration to be creative. I don’t believe that this is true. No one gets plumber’s block. They simply do plumbing. Creativity is work, it’s not the muse, or lightning or the result of burning incense. I write daily because I’m a professional, and this is what I do. Okay, so this is obviously a leading, self-interested question, but where does RSS fit into your life? How do you compare the RSS model to the way social media works? 

RSS is tragically overlooked. It’s an endaround to get past the giant companies that want to dominate your media life. It is snoop free, ad resistant and fast. It can’t be filtered or otherwise squeezed. RSS gave us podcasts, and it gave us a useful way to consume an endless series of blogs. I’m still angry at Google for building a trap that took the wind out of RSS’ sails. But Google has moved on, and the rest of us, if you care about information and freedom and access, you can go get an RSS reader. How have you resisted the pull of Twitter and Facebook? Would you advise other people to take the same non-engagement approach to social media? Can the rest of us really live without social media? 

If you use those services, at the very least, you’re the product. You’re being sold. And that’s okay, if you’re getting something out of them. What are you getting? Are you building an asset? Confronting useful fears? Making a difference for anyone? I spend zero time wondering if I should be spending time on social networks instead of doing my work. You’ve said that even if nobody read your blog, you would still blog every day. What is the value to the pure act of blogging?

Every day, I have to stand for something. Notice something. Put it down for all to see. The act is clarifying. It requires me to be a bit less of a hypocrite. And on a good day, it’s generous. That’s a pretty great combination. Has blogging been good for your mental health? Should more people do it, or are you somehow ideally suited to the medium?

Well, I have no control group… But I think given how much it helps others and how little it costs, it might be a great experiment. Do it for thirty days. If daily blogging doesn’t make your life better, I’ll give you a full refund on what you spent reading this!

It seems like an important moment for you was when you stopped worrying about your online reputation. Is that a precondition for people to be persistent in the face of failure in the contemporary world? 

Worrying is the key word. I haven’t stopped building trust, haven’t stopped contributing, haven’t stopped trying to push the envelope. I simply stopped worry, measuring and checking. My work got better instantly. So did my life.

You use the word privilege a lot- in fact it’s in the definition of permission marketing. Is there a sense that online marketers have been overlooking the privilege part of the equation? That too many are trying to capture audiences and not earning the privilege?  

Right! Humility is in short supply in the marketing world (did I mention I’m getting inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame in May? I’m practicing being non-humble to get ready for it…)

The thing is, we’re truly privileged. Someone taught us how to read. We’re healthy. Many of us grew up with people who believed in us. We live in a house. We have a wire that connects us to 2 billion people. Etc. etc. If you steal someone’s attention just to make a buck, I fear you’ve wasted all that’s been given to you. If you lie or hustle or scam because you’ve got a story in your head that you deserve it… what a waste. Empathy and humility are at the heart of successful marketing. We ignore that our peril.

What’s happened to the concept of permission marketing? What is your take on current online revenue models for publishers and platforms? I remember feeling so excited about the idea of permission marketing but I have a creeping feeling that there are too many selfish marketers dictating the agenda. 

Among brands and individuals that want to race to the bottom, it’s a footnote, easily ignored. They scam and hype and hustle. But among those that want to earn trust and make a difference, it remains the fundamental building block of connection.

How do more writers make a living? What is the most sensible business model to make web publishing sustainable? What practical advice would you give to a 20-something Seth Godin trying to make his name  today? 

To quote myself, “I’m still trying to be pretty good at being ‘this’ Seth Godin, so I wish people who want to be the next one a lot of luck. There’s never been a next Elvis Costello or a next Jill Sobule. There wasn’t even a next Chuck Berry or a next Charlie Chaplin … I think the most productive thing to do during times of change is to be your best self, not the best version of someone else.”

Can you make money writing articles or books? Not easily, not out on the long tail. The opportunity is to build yourself a niche, a place where you and you alone are the one to copy. Do you ever get the entrepreneurial itch? Will we see you starting a new company again? 

I learned a while ago that saying never is a good way to become a hypocrite.

SUBSCRIBE TO SETH'S BLOG

[theoldreader]

Eliminate the middle man

This is a post that was drafted months ago but never published.   Seems appropriate now more than ever so we’re going to release it into the world.

Something about this post title makes me think of some discount warehouse liquidator.  “We’ve eliminated the middle man and passed on the savings to you!”  But the truth is, that there are times when a middle man is nothing but destructive to a relationship and everybody gains by their removal.

Facebook is the ultimate middle man.

They tax the creators to reach their followers.  Boost!

They only show content that leads to stronger performance with their advertisers.

Instagram is the same now.  I know we all wish it wasn’t, but it is.

There are really only two parties that matter.  The writer and the reader.  A middle man always has dubious plans because they provide limited value.  Particularly on the open web.

RSS had this right years ago.  I realize, technically speaking, RSS platforms like ours are in the middle.  The difference is that we’re replaceable.  It’s not a private network and people come to us from other platforms all the time and vice versa.  It’s healthy.

So why did we all leave to the private network and entrust the middle man?  It’s because services like Facebook always start out as free and easy.  They are just here to help connect you to your friends.  For free.  No ads even… isn’t this great?

[theoldreader]

Reader Profile: Jason Kottke

Jason Kottke has been one of our favorite bloggers for a long time. He started blogging at kottke.org back in 1998, about a year before the word was even coined. He’s been a consistent and inspiring figure to us at The Old Reader and we were thrilled to talk to him about the state of Internet publishing, how he stays engaged and inspired, and the future of blogging. 

When you wrote R.I.P. The Blog, 1997-2013, you were obviously engaging in a little hyperbole. What is the relevance of blogging today? How dead is it in 2018?

Yeah, just a little hyperbolic. Obviously many people still blog regularly, myself included, and new ones are coming online all the time. But the network has become smaller and less connected, I think. For better or worse, sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and the like offer easier and more powerful ways to share stories and information with friends and interested strangers. All the people using those platforms are performing bloggish acts...we just don't think of them that way. 

Has blogging been good for your mental health? Should more people do it, or are you somehow ideally suited to the medium?

Hmm. I can't speak for anyone else, but often I don't know what to think about something unless I write about it. And I love hypertext...linking to other sites and embedding images and video is still, more than 20 years on, such a powerful way to communicate ideas.

Whose writing gets you excited these days? How much reading do you do each day to find your topics?

I don't know that I could name specific writers, but several video creators come to mind. Evan Puschak of the Nerdwriter produces these great videos about movies, music, art, and other cultural creations. The team at Vox does great video work, but I will drop everything to watch anything new by Joss Fong. I'm still bummed the Every Frame a Painting team stopped doing their thing. The Primitive Technology videos contain no dialogue, just a single man building huts, weaponry, baskets, and tools from scratch in the Australian wilderness.

How do most of your good sources come to you? What's the best tool for cutting through the noise and finding what inspires you?

I use a lot of different things: Twitter, Facebook, newsletters, tips from readers. And RSS (see below). Twitter is often the most useful. 

It seems safe to say that social media and the news feed algorithms have had some serious failings as a content curation tool. Does the world need more of the personal curation found in blogs?

I mentioned Twitter above. I use Tweetbot as my Twitter client, which has two essential features for me: 1) the feed is strictly chronological, and 2) there's keywords filtering for the timeline & mentions. I use the filtering extensively...any mention of Trump or Pence or Bannon (and dozens of other terms) I just don't see. If I want to keep up on that sort of thing, I can go directly to a preferred news source. Mostly I follow people that I know on Twitter who share and retweet interesting information, much like a linkblog. 

How do more publishers survive? You and a few others seem to have made memberships work. What is the most sensible business model to make web publishing sustainable?

Membership is a good option for me, but I'm not sure about anyone else. Like, I really don't know. The main thing that I've learned is that it's good to diversify your revenue. Don't just rely on one thing...you never know if it'll suddenly dry up or something else will take off.

You've said that you stopped using RSS when Google Reader folded and lost touch with a lot of blogs. Obviously we've got an interest here, but what would get you interested in RSS again? Is there a role for it on the web?

I haven't stopped, but at most I look at it once a month to catch up with the sites I follow that are still updating (not many). Honestly, Facebook, Twitter, and Google (in the form of AMP) have figured out easier and faster ways for people to find content and for publishers to connect with and monetize readers. As we've seen recently, there are many problems with those platforms but RSS and newsreaders still have to compete with them.

When blogging was born, people talked about disintermediation and how blogs would be death of traditional media. Now the new hype is around decentralization (outside the social networks), sort of blockchain for electronic publishing. Do you buy any of the new hype?

If the publishing and reading interfaces are as easy and fast or easier and faster to use than centralized services, people will use them. For most people, reducing that friction is the most important factor. 

A lot of publishers put their faith in Facebook, but now the Facebook is suddenly taking news out of the newsfeed, they are scrambling for a new distribution model. How do publishers attract actual audiences without trusting their fate to social media distribution channels?

Well, I think you don't rely on Facebook. You can use Facebook, but when Facebook sends you 40 million people a month for 3 months, don't count on it in month four. Other companies don't care about your business except in the aggregate. A company as aggressive as Facebook -- move fast, break things! -- is not going to make decisions with your publication in mind.

Now that you are 40-something with kids and a blog, how do you stay curious and inspired? Do you see the same spirit that drove you to blog in any younger online publishers? 

The blog forces me to keep up to date on what's going on in the world and in culture, so that helps. I don't have the same energy or time that I did when I was younger, but I'm hopefully wiser and work smarter now, so it evens out, I think. And yeah, the youthful spirit is alive and well online, in places like YouTube, DIY, Instagram, and Soundcloud. Despite corporate influence and consolidation, the web remains a place where it's easy to try things out, to discover culture, and find yourself.

SUBSCRIBE TO KOTTKE.ORG

[theoldreader]

“Restoring Internet Freedom”

So FCC chairman Ajit Pai has announced a plan to roll back net neutrality rules called “Restoring Internet Freedom.” I think we all know that this isn’t about freedom in the sense of allowing people to access the internet freely. Or viewing or creating whatever content they please free from tracking or throttling. It’s not about personal freedom at all.  

Ajit Pai (formerly of Verizon) being sworn in by outgoing FCC Chairman Genachowski (before taking a job at the Carlyle Group)

What it’s about is the freedom of network providers to do whatever the heck they want. That may FEEL like personal freedom to Pai since he worked for Verizon prior to taking on this role with the FCC. But for the 7 billion people on Earth who benefit from net neutrality (real internet freedom), this is a huge step in the wrong direction.

Will this be the death of internet innovation? When’s the last time a billionaire did something innovative? Uncovering tax loopholes doesn’t count! Can we reasonably look to Verizon to fix the many issues that we’re seeing on the web today? As Google/Youtube fess up to how messed up their content has become and vow to fix it, do you really believe that they can or will? What about Facebook and their complete incompetence during the last election? Will billionaires fix those problems?

I’m betting on the coder sitting in her apartment dreaming up a better way to serve age appropriate videos to kids. I’m betting on groups of computer science undergrads brainstorming an open protocol for social networking. But will Verizon and the rapidly consolidating group of internet network behemoths allow those ideas to thrive on THEIR internet? If not, we’ll be talking “Restoring Internet Freedom” in earnest.

[theoldreader]

Reader Profiles: Longform.org

“Longform" is one of those mis- and overused words that is in danger of losing all meaning. The main complaint is that the term makes a virtue of length for the sake of length. We talked to Aaron Lammer, founder of longform.org, who has been collecting and publishing the best, curated collection of in-depth reporting, feature writing and essays since 2012. Though dark clouds hang over the journalism industry, he’s pretty happy about his site as well as the state of the craft of journalism. 

Longform journalism is as good as it’s ever been 

Maybe the coolest thing about the site is that is doesn’t just publish the best stuff of the current moment, but also reprints articles from decades past, mostly work that pre-dates the internet and isn't terribly easy to find. “(Longform journalism) is as good as it has ever been,” Lammer says. ”It is never going to dominate the Facebook algorithm, but we provide an alternate place to find stuff to read.” 

Podcasting is the new longform

The site has also launched a podcast series with authors about how a non-fiction writer does their job in 2017. Lammer sees the podcast as a supplement, not a replacement for reading good writing. "I hope that they deepen readers' relationship with the work and provide free training to future generations of reporters,” he says. 

Sex sells think pieces, too

The term longform may imply ponderous and overly serious treatment of a subject, but Lammer says that sensational and titillating subjects tend to get the readers’ attention. It turns out that, just like on social media, people share serious articles, but they actually, “read stories about sex and crime at the highest rates.” 

He was longform before it was cool 

Lammers admits the name longform has a lot of baggage, but says he ignores the haters. “We're flattered that people are annoyed at the over-saturation of the word Longform,” he says. “The word "article" is probably sufficient but I'm not going to argue for or against the way language evolves online. We'll just keep doing what we're doing.”

What does Aaron read?

Lammer recommends following the New York Times an Kyle Chayka’s writing about design.

SUBSCRIBE TO LONGFORM.ORG

[theoldreader]

Creators and Consumers… Blurred lines

Technology has done a lot to blur the lines between creators and consumers. In one sense, a lot of people that were once consumers are now creators.

Instagram is a perfect example of this change in that most users are playing both rolls. This was the sea change that I felt when I first logged in to Twitter.  Technology has made it so much easier for everybody to create. You can make a pretty good sounding record in your bedroom. You can make pretty great videos and edit them from your smart phone. This is the good part of blurring the lines between creators and consumers.

On the other hand, technology has blurred those lines by co-opting or even hijacking the relationship between creators and consumers in a way that the individual user can’t control. That’s not necessarily the fault of technology itself, but the current state of affairs with the billion user Facebook network and very small list of network providers has given too much control to centralized private networks.  

Facebook and Google now have a huge amount of knowledge and control over the information that people consume. And while traditional media companies like the New York Times or your local paper had a lot of control over the content they were sending you, they weren’t able to track that and they were just one of the many options available to consumers. Same goes for television. So that line between creators (publishers) and consumers has gotten blurred in that it’s now brokered through large private networks such as Facebook, Spotify, Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Google and every other major player.

The problem with this second example is that creators are getting financially destroyed. The fact that everybody is now a photographer or recording artist or writer doesn’t actually hurt professional photographers, recording artists, or writers. If anything it keeps interest high and grows the industry. But the large private networks controlling the relationships between these creators and their fans or consumers is destroying the creators ability to earn a living wage.  Let’s say you love a creator and want to support them. How do you do that? You could buy their book, but would they get any money? You could listen to their songs on Spotify a thousand times and they’d get a couple pennies regardless of whether or not you are a premium user. You could follow them on Facebook… where’d they still have to pay to Boost their content before you’d ever even see it.

This is why I love RSS. Creators publish a distributed syndicated XML feed on the internet. Consumers use an app to fetch data from that location.  They see everything that the creators publish and nobody is hijacking that relationship. It’s a direct unburied line between the creator and the consumer.  A user has a list of URL’s and can use any number of apps (including, but not limited to The Old Reader) to access those feeds. What if you could just leave Facebook when you didn’t like their product anymore without losing access to your friends or the writers, musicians, or other creators that you value so highly? What if you creators and consumers were directly linked to each other and technology facilitated that instead of owning or hijacking that relationship?  Let’s make the change.

[theoldreader]

Did you read it?

[theoldreader]

Premium subscriptions are a great way to support The Old Reader

We’re truly grateful for every user of The Old Reader, but would like to sincerely thank all of our Premium subscribers for their ongoing support.  We also want to say that if you are on the fence, a premium subscription goes a long way to supporting our service and team.  It’s only $3/month and includes a bunch of nice benefits including better performance and zero ads. Also, anybody looking for a great way to support The Old Reader AND drum up a lot of interest in their own product/project/etc should consider a banner ad or sponsored post.  They’ve been really effective for sponsors and we think have had minimal negative impact on our users.  Prices start at only $500.  Get in touch if you are interested!  hello at the old reader.

[theoldreader]

How to Break Free From Social Media

This post presumes you already have a firm understanding of why you should cut ties with social media. If you aren’t there yet, you probably don’t need to read on. But perhaps you’d be interested in the following articles on happiness, avoiding depression, etc.

If you already know that social media is making you miserable and you’re just trying to find a way to escape then read on and follow this 5 step plan.

1. Tell your real friends your intentions. It’s crazy, but people might think you are unfriending them if you shut down your accounts. Do it in a non-judgmental fashion. “I just gotta lay low for a while.”  “I’m spending too much time staring at my phone.” Keep it simple, you don’t need to tell them that social media has become a leading cause of depression. They might not want to hear it, and that’s fine.

***Whatever you do, don’t pull one of those bullshit things where you post on social media that you are leaving social media.  People will just think you’re fishing for attention. Because you probably are just fishing for attention.***

2. Turn that shit off.

3. Make a list of what you’ll be missing.

You probably use social media for a number of reasons. Your original reason like connecting with old classmates that you haven’t seen in years was probably replaced by things like:

Spying on ex GF’s, BF’s, your kids, spouses, lovers.

Reading news (i.e. watching John Oliver clips)

Reading fake news

Collecting likes. And spending meaningful events in your life (like vacations, weddings, births) thinking about how to frame that moment on Instagram or Facebook and what you’ll say.

Looking at things you could buy.

Getting invited to events that you don’t want to go to, but... FOMO.

Looking at pictures from events that you missed that make them look way more fun than they actually were.

Taking 5 minute breaks from work.

4. Figure out healthy ways to replace what you’re missing.

Email an old friend that you haven’t connected with in a while.

Spend meaningful life events being present and undistracted by technology. Maybe just bring a camera or nothing to the beach or Disney World for one day to see how it goes.

Actually watch the concert or game you have attended. Especially if your friends or children are participating.

Stay informed on things you care about by subscribing to RSS feeds on a tool like The Old Reader! There’s almost infinite amazing content on every topic you can imagine. But you're probably missing most of it while obsessing over random crap on Facebook.

Go for a 5 minute walk outside. Even if the weather stinks. Walks in the rain can be pretty awesome.

Meditate for 5 minutes. Just focus on breathing and clearing your head. No iPhone app or expertise required.

5. You’re free! Just because social media is a growth area and a new technology doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. I mean, seriously, your parents are watching you again! You’d finally broken free and moved to a different state. And now they know about everything you do.

[theoldreader]

Essential Blogs for Web Developers and Designers

The name of the site is clunky- Giant Robots Smashing into Other Giant Robots- but the site's pure, minimalst design and straightforward posts about web and mobile development delivers the goods. 

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Scott Hanselman is a programmer for the Web Platform Team at Microsoft, but the site is his personal, first-person exploration of the world of web development. (He's also a prolific speaker and podcaster in the industry.) 

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Codrops has everything from a CSS reference library for beginners to cool HTML and CSS experiments, tutorials and templates for curious web developers trying to reach a higher level.

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You've Been Haacked is the pet project of Phil Haack, a developer at GitHub who shares his interests and enthusiasms, especially around developing Open Source projects. 

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One of the most dependable and regular blogs out there is the Speckyboy Design Magazine, which publishes long, illustrated posts and infographics daily on web and mobile app design, UX design, and graphics. Based out of Inverness, Scotland, the team of writers look for useful tips as well as stuff to inspire frustrated web developers and designers. 

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There are a lot of blogs out there for digital artists and designers, but we've tried to identify a couple of the best. Web Designer Depot and Smashing Magazine talk about essential tools and CSS tips you need to know while emphasizing good design, trends, and advice for making websites that don’t suck and are maybe even pleasing to the eye.

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CSS Tricks is probably the corniest name around, but it’s also the most on-the-nose. As you might guess, it’s a blog with tips and tricks for website developers of all levels of experience. For example, I just learned how to automatically generate Lorem Ipsum placeholder text in a test page, which probably saved me five minutes already today.

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The Old Reader Picks are a new series designed to introduce The Old Reader users to some of the great feeds that we enjoy.