RSS is awesome. There, I said it.

It truly is one of the most resilient syndication methods that the web has ever seen. I hope that it not only continues to exist but goes though a full-blown revival.

Anti-social media

Social media is everywhere and it is utterly exhausting. Platforms constantly fight for your attention by sending useless notifications to your phone.

No I don’t know who Karen is and I don’t care, leave me alone Facebook!

Algorithms are constantly tuned for one thing: engagement, so they can feed you more ads. There is no other way to state it, that is pretty much the goal of every social network. Even the supposedly “pure” platforms like Bluesky are working on subscriptions, which means they’ll soon need your participation too.

There’s no sincere desire to connect people. On social media, you and your content are the product.

Stay in control

With RSS, you’re in control.

That blog you followed for crochet patterns suddenly turns political? Just remove their feed URL - gone. No algorithm will keep throwing their “enlightened” takes into your feed.

Unlike social media, RSS doesn’t try to “optimize” or curate your feed. There’s no engagement bait or outrage amplification. Just pure, unfiltered content. The way the internet was meant to be.

No ads or trackers (usually)

Most RSS readers show you just the content:

  • No annoying ads
  • No pop-ups
  • No tracking scripts.

It’s faster, cleaner, and respects your privacy.

Many RSS readers even let you control notifications and enable offline access - perfect for catching up anywhere and anytime.

Centralized reading experience

This was the killer feature for me.

No more bouncing between 20 open tabs or manually checking bookmarks.

With RSS:

  • All your sources are in one place.
  • You can group by topic or priority.
  • You can mark articles as read, unread or save them for later.

It’s reading on your terms.

Great for following brilliant minds

Everyone’s cross-posting. People jump platforms, change usernames, go silent. It’s hard to keep up.

RSS fixes that. As long as someone maintains a feed, you’ll know where their content goes (even if they abandon a platform).

You never miss an update, no matter how rarely they post.

Completely open and decentralized

RSS is not controlled by company. Anyone can publish a feed. Anyone can subscribe.

  • No shadowbanning
  • No moderation
  • No algorithmic interference

It’s one of the last open web standards still widely in use.

You don’t need Web 3 for this. RSS has been here all along.

More focus, less doomscrolling

Stop being fed viral outrage bait.

With RSS, there is no trending tab and you consume only what you want. It’s a calmer, more enriching way to read online content. No dopamine loops required.

No comments (Yes, that’s a feature)

Even if the blogs have comment sections, RSS shows you just the content. No distractions, no off-topic rants, no comment wars.

For those of us who want to hear thoughtful voices (not arguments from random strangers) this is a blessing, not a bug.

Signal > Noise

Social media platforms thrive on noise: memes, hot takes, political rants and attention-seeking.

RSS thrives on signal. You get content from creators, thinkers, and writers you chose to follow. No likes, no trending drama, just the good stuff.

RSS isn’t dead. It’s just quietly better.

If you value your time, attention, and sanity - ditch the feed and take the control back. Go RSS.