Better or Worse Off? Part 2 – Escaping the Algorithm as My Next One Hit Wonder
If you read yesterday’s article, you may have guessed what my next One Hit Wonder will be.
But let me clarify exactly what I plan to do, how I want to implement it, and why.
For the next year (July 1 through June 30), my One Hit Wonder is this:
Eliminate watching YouTube.
Eliminate playing video games on my phone or computer (downloaded app-type games; “old-school” computer games might be okay—TBD).
Eliminate watching streaming movies or TV shows.
Avoid replacing YouTube, games, and streaming with cable TV.
Eliminate listening to podcasts.
That’s right.
I’m cutting out many of the digital activities that simply weren’t part of my life before the smartphone era.
Music streaming gets a pass.
I listened to an iPod and curated playlists long before smartphones existed, so I don’t think music itself is the issue.
Podcasts are different.
I listened to very little talk radio before smartphones (perhaps an occasional Old Time Radio Show or an Art Bell program), so podcasts go, too.
After 30 days I may reevaluate and decide whether there are a Select few I genuinely miss. We’ll see.
Old-time radio shows are acceptable, but I don’t want to use them as a morning or evening escape.
The goal is simple:
Spend less time as a spectator and more time actively engaged in life.
I want to keep the channels clear, not have stuff Continuously pumped into my head.
And, I wasn’t much of a television watcher once I reached my twenties, so cable television doesn’t get to replace streaming.
Renting a movie through a streaming service?
No.
That’s still streaming.
Going to see a movie in real life?
Absolutely.
Yes, it’s expensive these days.
But this experiment isn’t about saving money.
What if someone sends me a YouTube link or a podcast?
That’s different.
I’ll watch or listen to the specific item they sent because it’s about the relationship.
What I won’t do is click on the next recommended video…
…or the next…
…or the next.
No feeding the algorithm.
What about social media?
I barely use it now.
If I suddenly started scrolling because I was bored, that would clearly violate the spirit of this experiment.
Could I occasionally log into Facebook or LinkedIn to respond to a message, learn about an event, or communicate with someone?
Sure.
The purpose is connection—not escape.
Likewise, if we eventually use Instagram to promote our music, that’s very different from mindless scrolling.
I’ll simply have to pay attention and guard against drifting into the algorithm.
So why this One Hit Wonder?
Because I believe my life is worse off after these things entered it than it was before.
Take YouTube as an example.
I started watching it regularly around 2010 or 2011.
It got me excited about the idea of van life. It reinforced my learning and application of minimalism. It provided strength-training ideas like, HIIT, pull-ups, and chin-ups.
It has absolutely provided value.
But what has it cost me?
A lot.
It largely replaced one of my favorite habits.
Reading.
Before YouTube became a daily habit—probably around 2013 or 2014—I read constantly.
Afterward, unless I needed to read for my Ph.D. program, my reading dropped dramatically.
That alone is enough to make me question whether YouTube belongs in my life.
It also replaced movies.
Why spend two hours immersed in a great film when I could get a quick dopamine hit from eight or ten short videos on completely unrelated topics?
Perhaps the biggest cost has been sleep.
Since “streaming” become a thing, I have fallen asleep listening to something in my ears.
YouTube.
Podcasts.
Something.
When did that become normal?
I honestly don’t know.
It just happened.
I began this One Hit Wonder on June 29.
That night I put on my sleep mask—which has recently become another good habit—and went to bed without listening to anything.
Seven straight hours.
I couldn’t remember the last time that happened.
Ironically, earlier that same day my doctor had asked about my sleep.
I told her I usually sleep in two- to four-hour segments, waking up in between, and had simply accepted that this was how I was wired.
Apparently not.
These digital habits have also quietly been charging me a daily toll.
At least an hour in the morning.
And at least an hour at night, typically more.
Every day.
Time I could have spent reading.
Writing.
Walking.
Thinking.
Practicing music.
Talking with people.
Living.
It really is like paying a toll to begin and end each day.
But why pay such a toll? What does it actually do for improving my life?
The more I thought about it, the more I realized this may be one of the biggest keys to unlocking additional psychological freedom and time freedom in my life.
Trying to pile more good habits on top of these deeply ingrained ones seems backwards.
Better to remove what no longer serves me.
Then see what naturally grows in the space that’s left.
So…
Yes.
These are the droids I’m looking for.
And they have to go.
(Metaphorically speaking, of course.)
As Seth Meyers might say:
“Ya’ burnt!”
Thanks for the memories, YouTube, phone games, podcasts, and streaming.
Maybe we’ll become friends again sometime in the second half of 2027.
But don’t hold your breath.
I suspect, if we do, it’ll be at arm’s length.
One final thought: I do see a possible role for YouTube and/or podcasts in my future—but that’s a story for another article.