Fighting For Control

The Art of Curating Your Information Flow

In our hyperconnected world, we're drowning in information. Every ping, notification, and feed update demands our attention, pulling us deeper into an endless stream of content that often leaves us feeling overwhelmed rather than informed. The solution isn't to disconnect entirely—it's to become intentional curators of our own information diet.

Information overload isn't just inconvenient; it's counterproductive. When we consume everything that crosses our digital path, we lose the ability to focus on what truly matters. The key is learning to filter, organize, and control the flow of information coming into our lives.

Start With Social Media: Master Your Twitter Feed

Let's begin with one of the biggest culprits of information chaos: Twitter (now X). The platform can be a valuable source of real-time news and insights, but only if you use it intentionally.

Focus on Who You Follow, Not What's Trending

The most powerful tool at your disposal is the "Following" tab. Ignore the algorithmic "For You" feed entirely and stick to the accounts you've deliberately chosen to follow. This simple switch puts you back in control of what information enters your mind.

Ruthlessly Audit Your Follow List

Here's where many people hesitate, but it's crucial: unfollow accounts when they prove themselves untrustworthy. It doesn't matter how entertaining or popular someone is—if they consistently share demonstrably false information, they don't deserve space in your information ecosystem.

Take Clay Travis, for example. He might be an engaging personality, but when someone repeatedly tweets things that are factually incorrect, it's time to hit that unfollow button. Your information diet is too important to contaminate with unreliable sources.

Skip the Comments Section

One of the biggest time-savers and sanity-preservers is simply not reading the comments. You came for the original thought or article—don't get sucked into the often toxic or unproductive discussions below.

Tame Your Inbox With Smart Email Filtering

Email might seem less chaotic than social media, but it's equally capable of overwhelming your attention. While Gmail offers some basic filtering, tools like FastMail provide more sophisticated rule-creation capabilities.

The key is creating automated rules that handle common, low-value emails before they ever reach your attention. Set up filters to automatically sort or delete:

• Promotional emails from retailers

• Newsletter subscriptions you no longer read

• Automated notifications that aren't urgent

• Emails containing specific keywords that rarely require your immediate attention

Think of email rules as your personal assistant, quietly organizing your digital life so you can focus on what matters.

RSS Feeds: The Power of Deliberate Information Consumption

RSS feeds through readers like InnoReader represent one of the purest forms of intentional information consumption. Unlike social media algorithms, RSS gives you exactly what you've chosen to subscribe to—nothing more, nothing less.

Use Smart Filtering

Just as with email, RSS readers benefit from thoughtful filtering. Create rules to automatically hide articles that match certain criteria. For instance, if daily market movements aren't relevant to your long-term investment strategy, set up a filter to hide any article starting with "S&P 500."

The Dream of AI Curation

Imagine an AI filter sophisticated enough to apply Morgan Housel's famous question: "Will I care about this in a year?" Such a tool could automatically filter out the noise and surface only content with lasting value. While we're not quite there yet, we can manually apply this principle when choosing sources and creating our own filters.

The Algorithm Problem: Why Manual Curation Matters

There's a crucial distinction between the platforms we've discussed and others like Facebook, YouTube, or TikTok. Twitter's Following tab and RSS feeds give you control—you see what you've chosen to see. Algorithmic feeds, by contrast, show you what a computer thinks you want to see.

This difference is profound. Manual curation allows you to maintain a balanced information diet, seeking out perspectives from across the political spectrum and various disciplines. You can deliberately expose yourself to ideas that challenge your thinking rather than falling into the echo chambers that algorithms often create.

Algorithmic feeds optimize for engagement, not enlightenment. They'll show you content that keeps you scrolling, not necessarily content that makes you wiser.

Beyond the Basics: Additional Curation Strategies

Podcast Management Your podcast subscriptions deserve the same scrutiny as your social media follows. Regularly review your podcast app and unsubscribe from shows that no longer serve your interests or goals.

News Aggregators Tools like Flipboard or Feedly can help you create custom news feeds while avoiding sensationalist sources. The key is choosing quality over quantity.

Newsletter Audits Email newsletters can provide tremendous value, but they can also clutter your inbox. Regularly unsubscribe from newsletters that you consistently ignore or that no longer align with your interests.

Time Management Apps Consider using apps like RescueTime or Freedom to track and limit time spent on distracting websites or applications. Sometimes the best curation is simply limiting exposure.

The Path Forward: Intentional Information Consumption

Curating your information flow isn't about cutting yourself off from the world—it's about being intentional with your attention. Every source you follow, every newsletter you subscribe to, and every platform you engage with should earn its place in your information ecosystem.

Start small. Pick one platform and spend thirty minutes auditing what you're currently consuming. Unfollow accounts that consistently waste your time or mislead you. Set up one or two email filters. Try using an RSS reader for a week.

The goal isn't perfection; it's progress toward a more intentional relationship with information. In a world that profits from your distraction, taking control of your information flow is both a practical necessity and a form of digital self-defense.

Your attention is finite and precious. Make sure you're spending it on information that truly serves your goals and values.