A few weeks ago I deleted the YouTube app off my phone. It was in line with my desire to get rid of social media apps that rely on algorithms to feed you content.

I have social media apps on my phone like Ivory for Mastodon my now most used one. Others like Glass and Discord but they are all non algorithm based. Like most people I had become victim to checking apps too much because I knew the timeline would change and something new would pop up.

But taking off YouTube and trying to have different types of social media apps on my phone has been a good thing. I have a sense of hey I am done with all the new stuff I missed. When it comes to most of those things I’m a completionist. So when I know I have seen everything I can leave the app and come back later. But how long is later? Sometimes I would find my way back in 5 minutes just not what I wanted for myself.

One thing I am noticing though that is unsettling to me is I still feel the algorithms lingering effects. I still have habits of bouncing between apps to check them too often. I hope this can slow down overtime and maybe this is bigger than an algorithm but it just goes to show me how much it’s all affected my habits. I really enjoy using social media to meet new people. Leaving Twitter and having a fresh start on Mastodon has been awesome. But for anyone out there feeling this way about their phones or apps I wanted to share my experiences.

Hopefully in a little while these compulsive habits will go away. I will have more time where I can sit in peace and not feel the need to check my phone. Like most things its a work in progress.