Stop using apps

Do not surrender algorithmic sovereignty. Use a browser.

It’s 2025. The war for your attention is in full swing. Maybe you didn’t know about it. Or you just forgot.

Look, the internet used to be simple: your computer sent a request, another computer sent back some information. Now, you send a request, and another computer sends you back a boatload of information. Way more than you wanted. And a lot of it is either trying to sell you something or it’s trying to farm engagement. Boo.

What if you could just… watch the video you wanted to on YouTube with no other cruft? What if you could just… get caught up with your friends on Twitter/X in a few minutes, and then put away your phone? I have good news: less is possible!

Yes you can just go full dumbphone and ignore the internet. I’ve done it. If you can it’s a great option! But let me throw some other tools in the tool store to choose from if that isn’t something you can do. They will require a little bit of tinkering to get working right, but consider this: would you rather spend an hour once setting up a tool that will benefit you, or several hours being sucked into a whirlpool of doomscrolling?

Get your life back.

To start: Get Firefox.

Why Firefox? Because you’ll have a mobile browser that supports extensions: those bits of computer-side code that run and block all the cruft.

Extension 1: UnTrap for YouTube

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/untrap-for-youtube/

With this add-on you can block shorts, block comments, block suggestions… so much. Here are the most handy improvements, and my thinking behind it:

1. Block suggestions: don’t be a slave to shiny new objects. You should go on YouTube to seek particular knowledge, not chase a rabbit hole.

2. Block shorts: we all know short-form content demolishes the ability to focus.

3. Set the homepage to Watch Later: this encourages you to curate your videos. When you go to YouTube, rather than whatever nonsense a bunch of rocks in Silicon Valley say you should watch, you say what you should watch. Curate this wisely.

Extension 2: Control Panel for Twitter

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/control-panel-for-twitter/

What’s this one do?

1. Use the “following” timeline by default: you want to hop on, see what’s new, and get off. Chronological feed does this.

2. Hide the “for you” tab: do not listen to what the rocks in Silicon Valley are trying to get you to look at.

3. Hide “Grok”, “Subscriptions”, “Jobs”, etc.: just declutter the whole thing.

Extension 3: Fluff Busting Purity (Facebook)

Unfortunately, this one isn’t on the extension stores. That’s how you know they’re poking the bears: https://www.fbpurity.com/

Also unfortunately, Facebook seemingly is constantly changing how they deliver information, to combat this extension. The things you can do with it are in constant flux.

I don’t really use Facebook. I think an extension to pretty much make it so only the “Events” and “Marketplace” functionality worked would be great.

Extension (and app) 4: BlockSite

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/blocksite/

Generic site blocker. Block websites. You can set schedules and limits. There’s also an app for phones that you can block apps with too. It really works! It’s worth the purchase.

Bonus: Tree Style Tabs

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/

Okay, this doesn’t work on mobile. But it’s the greatest thing for desktop if you have way too many tabs. This lets you group tabs, collapse groups, and also just puts them on the left side of the screen so you can actually read all the titles. It’s just darn handy and honestly is the reason I started using Firefox.

Others?

Please comment any other great extensions or add-ons in this vein.