A good find
So much of what made culture great between the '60s and '90s was that you had to work for it. There was friction.
You'd go to a record store, or a book store, or a thrift store, and browse for hours, just hoping for one good find.
Maybe we need more of that on the internet.
Do we need to be constantly inundated with a firehose of content tuned to our lowest, base desires?
These days, you don't go out and find cool stuff. You get served whatever pablum the platforms think you'll consume.
We need more mess, more friction.
Open protocols like RSS, email, and the web give us the foundation for being more mindful:
Having a friend recommend a good podcast to listen to.
Getting forwarded a newsletter you would have never found on your own.
Following a series of links and going down a magnificent rabbit hole of curiosity for hours.
"RSS could be an antidote to the overwhelm that we experience elsewhere on the internet."
– Mike Rugnetta, Never Post
Algorithms are deciding what you’ll like before you’ve even had a chance to explore.
Let’s start giving ourselves the freedom to be curious, rather than being spoon-fed.
Most of the fun of discovering something cool is the journey you took to get there.