how to build your own little internet 💫 — Transcript

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1. 0:00What if picking up your phone felt like
2. 0:03entering a cozy little universe that was
3. 0:05built just for you to explore? A library
4. 0:08of interesting things, your favorite
5. 0:10people, and just weird whimsical little
6. 0:13corners for you to discover. So, today
7. 0:15we're going to be learning how to build
8. 0:17our own little internet using tools and
9. 0:20apps that already exist and creating a
10. 0:22home base that we can come back to over
11. 0:24and over again to start having fun
12. 0:26engaging with content online again. But,
13. 0:28before we start building it, we need to
14. 0:30first ask ourselves what we actually
15. 0:32want the internet to give us.
16. 0:34>> [music]
17. 0:36>> I'm guessing you're probably someone who
18. 0:39has maybe tried taking a social media
19. 0:40break, has tried leaving social media
20. 0:42altogether,
21. 0:43and maybe it didn't work for you. I did
22. 0:44try that a while ago and it didn't work
23. 0:46for me just because there was so much I
24. 0:48was missing from being online. So, some
25. 0:50of the common reasons why a lot of us
26. 0:52are still online despite everything that
27. 0:55[clears throat] is wrong with it, it
28. 0:56could be that you just simply find joy
29. 0:59and inspiration, maybe you get
30. 1:00entertainment, comfort, maybe you're
31. 1:02there to connect with friends, with
32. 1:04family, with new people. So, once you've
33. 1:06gotten very clear about what it is
34. 1:09you're hoping to get out of the internet
35. 1:10and being online, the next thing you
36. 1:11want to do is think about all of the
37. 1:13creators and the platforms and the type
38. 1:15of content that you really find yourself
39. 1:17drawn to. So, for example, I personally
40. 1:20really like long-form content. I don't
41. 1:22engage in a lot of short-form content.
42. 1:24Most of the stuff I watch is either
43. 1:25going to be videos on YouTube. Sometimes
44. 1:27I do scroll on Pinterest for
45. 1:30inspiration. Occasionally, Instagram, I
46. 1:32would say maybe like 20 minutes a week
47. 1:35at most. But, otherwise, I will read
48. 1:37articles on Substack or just around the
49. 1:40web. And as you're doing this, don't
50. 1:41worry if some of the platforms you have
51. 1:43kind of like a love-hate relationship
52. 1:44with. You might think, I like getting,
53. 1:46you know, XYZ from TikTok and Instagram,
54. 1:48but I actually don't really like those
55. 1:49platforms. That's fine. We'll deal with
56. 1:51that later. Just for now, you're
57. 1:53thinking about what is it that I like
58. 1:55about the internet. That's all. Now that
59. 1:58we have our intentions clear and set, we
60. 2:00are going to jump into building our own
61. 2:02world, aka our own social media feeds.
62. 2:05>> [music]
63. 2:08>> So, the first step is something we're
64. 2:09only going to have to do once, which is
65. 2:11to set up our own RSS reader. And if you
66. 2:14were born as like a late Gen Z, you
67. 2:16might not know what RSS is. But an RSS
68. 2:18feed is essentially just a subscription
69. 2:20feed. So, back when blogs and, you know,
70. 2:23newsletters, articles were kind of like
71. 2:25the main front end of the web, you could
72. 2:27put in someone's blog URL into your RSS
73. 2:30feed. Every time that person would post
74. 2:31something new, you would get a
75. 2:32notification in it saying, "Hey, like
76. 2:34this is our new article." or the new
77. 2:36content. Basically, the same way that
78. 2:37social media worked in the first place
79. 2:40when you would just see people's updates
80. 2:42chronologically. And we still have RSS
81. 2:45readers now. They're not as popular, um
82. 2:47just because again, social media kind of
83. 2:49replaced that for a lot of people. But
84. 2:50my favorite one that I like to use is
85. 2:52Reader. It's by readwise.io.
86. 2:55And Reader actually is mostly used for
87. 2:58articles, I think, by a lot of people.
88. 2:59That's the primary way I use it. But you
89. 3:01can also add YouTube videos, uh like
90. 3:05podcasts. I'm pretty sure every type of
91. 3:07content you can put in there and have it
92. 3:09in your queue. Or you could set up your
93. 3:11favorite people that you subscribe to
94. 3:13and have all of their content come
95. 3:15through that way. And the cool thing
96. 3:16about this is that you actually get to
97. 3:18see the content from people you like.
98. 3:20Readwise does cost money. There are some
99. 3:23other apps, I think, like Pocket or
100. 3:24Instapaper. I'm sure there's free ones,
101. 3:26too. But if you don't want to set up
102. 3:28your own app, you can just stick to
103. 3:30regular like social media and content
104. 3:32platforms. Most of them have their own
105. 3:35dedicated URLs for content that you have
106. 3:38saved or queued. So, what I mean by that
107. 3:40is if you go into YouTube and look at
108. 3:41your Watch Later list, there's actually
109. 3:44a URL that if you save this as a
110. 3:45bookmark, you can actually bookmark that
111. 3:47as your general homepage for YouTube
112. 3:49instead of always going to the browse
113. 3:50page. Or if you have a lot of Instagram
114. 3:52saves or a specific Pinterest board,
115. 3:55Reddit saves, Twitter saves, whatever it
116. 3:56is, just go into that page and copy the
117. 3:59URL. And now you'll have a link to the
118. 4:01actual content that you have saved or
119. 4:03that you want to watch instead of always
120. 4:04going back to the actual algorithm and
121. 4:06getting distracted by new content. So
122. 4:08now that all of your content feeds are
123. 4:09set up, you need to find a way to make
124. 4:11them more accessible than the standard
125. 4:14home page on a social media app. The
126. 4:16easiest way to do this is to just
127. 4:18literally replace all of the links and
128. 4:20apps that you would normally use. So for
129. 4:22example, if you use an iPhone, you can
130. 4:24go into your home page and delete icons
131. 4:27for the app if they're on your home page
132. 4:29or somewhere accessible. Just get rid of
133. 4:30them, they'll still be in your phone,
134. 4:31but they're not going to be there like
135. 4:33right when you open it up. And instead,
136. 4:35you can go into the shortcuts app, put
137. 4:37in one of the links to, you know, that
138. 4:40YouTube watch later feed or, you know,
139. 4:42that Pinterest board that you were
140. 4:43thinking about, and set that up as the
141. 4:45actual icon that's going to be on your
142. 4:48home page. You can do the same with your
143. 4:50reader app. I have mine on my home page
144. 4:52as well, or whatever other RSS feed
145. 4:54you're using. And this way when you go
146. 4:56to open up your phone, you're going to
147. 4:58see these icons that are going to bring
148. 5:00you directly to these very controlled
149. 5:02feeds of content that you have already
150. 5:04pre-selected. Cool kids call this
151. 5:06friction maxing. And this is really just
152. 5:08to avoid that whole scenario where you
153. 5:09open up your phone, you click on the
154. 5:11first app you see, suddenly you're
155. 5:12scrolling through like Instagram or
156. 5:14Reddit for an hour, and you have no idea
157. 5:16where the time went.
158. 5:20Now, in an ideal world, we would only
159. 5:22have these controlled feeds and never
160. 5:25see content that we did not intend to
161. 5:27see, but unfortunately, that is not
162. 5:28really how the world works. Of course,
163. 5:30most of us are using the internet, our
164. 5:33computers, our phones to do pretty much
165. 5:35everything. So because we don't have
166. 5:37really obvious boundaries between new
167. 5:40content and the content we want to see,
168. 5:42you need to create what is called an
169. 5:43inbox. An inbox, uh if you follow like
170. 5:46getting things done, GTD, I've talked
171. 5:47about this before. It's really just a
172. 5:49place that you can send all of the crap
173. 5:51that's in your head, all the stuff that
174. 5:52comes to you, you know, your friend
175. 5:54sends you this cool meme, or like this
176. 5:56Tik Tok that they want you to see. Um
177. 5:58your boss tells you to read this article
178. 6:00for work later. You want to send it all
179. 6:02to this list of things that you decide
180. 6:04to review on it could be a daily basis,
181. 6:06a weekly basis. But the purpose of this,
182. 6:08and this is something I've done for
183. 6:09probably like over a decade now, and
184. 6:11it's absolutely saved my attention span,
185. 6:13is that anytime something urgent comes
186. 6:16up that is not urgent in that moment and
187. 6:18you're working on something else, you're
188. 6:20able to defer it and not think about it.
189. 6:22Because otherwise, that loop stays open,
190. 6:25uh you stay distracted. My favorite tool
191. 6:27for this is Things. Uh I use them for my
192. 6:30general task management. And they have a
193. 6:32really great keyboard shortcut. I think
194. 6:34it's just like control space. I also
195. 6:36have a shortcut set on my phone, so I
196. 6:37can just swipe down and click new task.
197. 6:40And both of these, whether I'm on my
198. 6:42computer or my phone, I just quickly add
199. 6:44in whatever link or whatever idea, thing
200. 6:46I want to research, and then I get back
201. 6:48to what I was doing. I know it's
202. 6:49completely saved for later. I will never
203. 6:51lose it, but I also don't have to worry
204. 6:53about engaging with it right now. Plenty
205. 6:55of apps have some sort of inbox feature.
206. 6:57You can do this in Notion, in
207. 6:59Capacities. You could literally just
208. 7:00have sticky notes around your desk and
209. 7:02just write a reminder. The point is that
210. 7:04you're just not dealing with it right
211. 7:06now. Now, the reason why I personally do
212. 7:08not just send things directly to Reader
213. 7:11or to any other like content feed that I
214. 7:13have is because I strongly believe in
215. 7:17having a cool down period or like a cold
216. 7:20storage for when ideas come up for the
217. 7:22first time cuz it's novel, it's new, it
218. 7:24triggers dopamine. It's going to feel
219. 7:27much more important and interesting than
220. 7:30if you let it sit for a day or two. And
221. 7:33this happens to me all the time. Like I
222. 7:34will I will see an article and be like,
223. 7:36"This is the coolest thing ever. I need
224. 7:37to read it right now." I stop myself, I
225. 7:39send it to my inbox, I look at it the
226. 7:40next morning, and I'm like,
227. 7:42"This isn't This is actually not that
228. 7:43interesting." So, I find it's a really
229. 7:45good filter for making sure that the
230. 7:48content that you do want to engage with
231. 7:49is actually relevant and interesting to
232. 7:52you, and it's not just because it's
233. 7:54newer and shinier than the thing that
234. 7:56you're currently working on. So far, we
235. 7:58have built our own content queues, and
236. 8:00we have figured out a good workflow for
237. 8:02triaging new spontaneous content that
238. 8:04comes in. But, what happens when we want
239. 8:06to go and discover something else?
240. 8:08Because sometimes you'll either get to
241. 8:10the bottom of your queue, and you just
242. 8:11need to find new content, or maybe
243. 8:13you're just bored with the content you
244. 8:14have, and you want to discover something
245. 8:16new. Maybe you have a project you need
246. 8:17to research for. Whatever it is, we
247. 8:19can't avoid the open internet forever.
248. 8:25When I'm going in to look for new
249. 8:27content to add to my content queue, try
250. 8:29to do it from this perspective of like
251. 8:31being an explorer on an expedition, and
252. 8:34I've assigned myself a mission or like
253. 8:36an intention. And this generally means
254. 8:38that I might have like a time block or a
255. 8:41timer going, just so I don't start
256. 8:43browsing into infinity, and it turns
257. 8:45into doom scrolling. Often, I will have
258. 8:47something specific that I'm looking for.
259. 8:49So, if there's like a video script, and
260. 8:51I want to look up new perspectives, or
261. 8:53maybe some like research that I can talk
262. 8:55about, then that will sort of be like
263. 8:57the mission that I have for the day.
264. 8:58But, that's not to say that you always
265. 8:59have to go online with a specific reason
266. 9:02in mind. You can just go on to like play
267. 9:05and go down rabbit holes. And in those
268. 9:06cases, I personally prefer to go on
269. 9:10non-traditional social media apps. Arena
270. 9:13and Sublime are great for this. If you
271. 9:16have other apps that serve as kind of
272. 9:18like a junk drawer, so for example,
273. 9:19Raindrop is that for me, Pinterest can
274. 9:21sometimes be that. I'll go through and
275. 9:23look through that, and maybe elevate
276. 9:25some of the bookmarks that I've had into
277. 9:26my reader. I also really love exploring
278. 9:29Neocities and webrings and people's
279. 9:31digital gardens. I think personal sites
280. 9:33are just such a treasure trove of
281. 9:35information, and I love looking at
282. 9:37someone's specific perspective instead
283. 9:39of just like jumping around to different
284. 9:41people. However you go about it, just
285. 9:42generally giving yourself boundaries, I
286. 9:44guess you could say.
287. 9:48Now, if you want to keep your internet
288. 9:49practice private, those three steps are
289. 9:51more than enough to help build your own
290. 9:54little digital universe.
291. 9:56But, I do think as a bonus step, I
292. 9:59really suggest finding a way to create
293. 10:02instead of just consume. It It doesn't
294. 10:04mean that you have to be like a YouTuber
295. 10:06or an influencer by any means. There's
296. 10:08plenty of ways that people do this in a
297. 10:10little bit more of like a a private way,
298. 10:12I guess. Well, not private, but less
299. 10:15algorithmically inclined, I guess you
300. 10:17could say. So, one example, which I've
301. 10:18talked about a lot on this channel, is
302. 10:20just digital gardens. You could set up
303. 10:21your own blog or digital garden online.
304. 10:24You could just create your own website
305. 10:25in general. Again, my example is
306. 10:27Wesley's World, if you want to check
307. 10:28that out. Back in the day, this was more
308. 10:30of like a Xanga or a MySpace profile um
309. 10:33or even a Facebook page. And I know
310. 10:35modern social media has kind of replaced
311. 10:37this entirely and taken out a lot of the
312. 10:39the customization and the personality
313. 10:41out of it, especially since everything
314. 10:42is just so optimized for an algorithm
315. 10:45now. But, if you have your own website,
316. 10:46it's a way to feel like you are actually
317. 10:48buying real estate online instead of
318. 10:50just renting it all the time, and it
319. 10:52feels like you have a permanent place to
320. 10:53explore your interests and connect with
321. 10:55people. this video gave you some ideas
322. 10:57and inspiration for how to make the
323. 10:59internet a little more personal and
324. 11:01joyful for you. But, that being said,
325. 11:03just because you do create your own
326. 11:04custom feeds and save your own content
327. 11:06does not necessarily mean that you're
328. 11:07going to go back and revisit them, which
329. 11:10is a whole 'nother problem in and of
330. 11:13itself that I will save for another
331. 11:15video. But, in the meantime, thank you
332. 11:17for watching, and I will see you in the
333. 11:19next one. Bye.