How To Defeat The Addiction Algorithms on Mobile
Using tech to defeat tech seemed like a losing game, but turns out the solution is to use even more tech.
Introduction
I've been spending a big portion of my life over the past few years trying to find a way to get back the time I spend on the endless content scrolls of the different social media websites. Instagram Reels and the Reddit homepage were my personal Achilles heels, though it changed over the years. Before I get to the solution I want to motivate why I think this is actually quite a hard problem.
The biggest issue is that the different social media companies aren’t stupid. They know the endless content scrolls aren’t why most people come to their websites. People usually get to Reddit by looking for the answer to a specific question from Google Search. People usually log on to Instagram to see what their friends are up to. So they are engineered to make sure you can’t have one without the other - you click on a Reddit product review through Google, and an engaging ‘related’ post appears right below it, and you’re trapped. Similarly, YouTube hides shorts like landmines between all of the normal videos you might actually proactively decide to watch.
There are plenty of extensions for the desktop browsers - YouTube Focus, News Feed Eradicator (the best one imo), etcetera, that let you take back control on PC. But then the Reddits and Instagrams of the world get you on mobile. And this is the real issue - mobile apps lock you into an unmodifiable experience meant to addict you, and the companies do their best to make sure there are no alternative apps, with any alternative app being a temporary solution until it is sued or the API priced is hiked to infinity (Ahem, Reddit) and they are forced to close again. You can use AppBlock to limit time, but there isn’t some set amount of time you need to use the apps. What if someone messages you on Instagram? Or you’re looking for an answer to a specific question on Reddit, and your daily limit isn’t enough?
For a while, I thought the only solution was to wait for proper augmented reality glasses to exist. To filter out ads and block feeds closer to the eyes, where the social media companies can’t find a spot to squeeze in and place some more engaging content. But then I decided to stop being defeatist and to dedicate the time to solving this problem. And I found a pretty simple (okay maybe not that simple, if you are not technically inclined) solution. A mobile browser with add-ons.
The Solution
I personally use Iceraven, but since it’s just a fork of the more well-known Firefox, I’ll use the name Firefox. So Firefox, at least on Android, has a few extensions. Not the ones I mentioned above that are specifically made to block feeds, so what does it help? UBlock Origin custom filters. Firefox does let you download UBlock Origin. And UBlock Origin, even on mobile, has the incredibly customizable “My filters”, which lets you permanently block web elements according to some arbitrary rule on some website. And that’s it. I can use Reddit, but the homepage is blank. I can use Instagram, but UBlock has ‘block large media elements’ which makes reels stop working. For most specific cases you might want to remove, someone posted a filter for it online, and if you need something unique to you (for instance, I wanted to hide the Stack Exchange homepage’s recommendations), figuring out the filter system is pretty simple. And then you just delete all the apps and use your new desktop-level customizability browser.
For example this filter blocks the Reddit homepage:
reddit.com##:matches-path(/^/$/).ListingLayout-outerContainer,#main-contentAnd this one blocks the stack exchange network links:
stackexchange.com###mainAreaInitially, I was worried I would just find something else to be addicted to, like after I managed to block all the feeds on my PC, I started scrolling on my phone. But there is nothing else. It’s been a few months now, and it just works, all my filters still work, and the most used app on my phone switched over from Instagram to Kindle. So I thought I’d share the solution, even though a part of me is worried that they’ll find a way to block it. But honestly, it’s sufficiently contrived that I don’t think enough people could ever do this to ever impact the social media companies, so maybe they’ll let it be.