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Twitter has a setting where you can specify words that if they appear in posts, they'll not show up on your feed. This helps me. However, several other factors

Twitter has a setting where you can specify words that if they appear in posts, they'll not show up on your feed. This helps me. However, several other factors also help me: - I'm very aggressive with telling Twitter and any other platform when I don't like something by using the "Not Interested" button or equivalent. This seems to work well with Twitter. - Twitter loads slowly on my system, so I use a Firefox add on that hides the whole sidebar or whatever they call the trending topics. So I don't see them anymore, even though they weren't really bothering me in the first place. - I honestly barely use Twitter except to see the latest on specific accounts. I'll usually click on links directly to access them and not depend on a feed. Stuff that is super popular on Twitter tends to be screenshotted and posted to other platforms anyway. - Overall my even minimal use of Twitter is dwindling; most of the accounts that have content I like on Twitter are also on BlueSky.

sroussey 2y ago
I have an extension that removes twitter blue posts and other advertisements.
- gspencley 2y ago
  I've tried to use Twitter on multiple occasions over the years. The thing that really annoyed me the last time I gave it a go (and once again ultimately decided there was nothing of value to be found there) was that it would show me posts from pages that I don't follow, but that people I follow follow. That drives me absolutely crazy because that was one way that political crap that I didn't want got shown to me. Also, this is shocking I know, but I don't agree with or like everything that people I know and/or follow think or like. So a lot of these posts were from pages that I am already familiar with, have already decided I don't like and want to not follow, and yet it STILL gets shoved in my face because people & pages I follow are into something that they are objectively wrong to be into and should thus rethink every life decision they ever made over the years that helped to drive them towards being interested in such garbage. I know I'm old but all I want in any "news feed" is to show me latest posts from people/pages I follow directly in chronological order with pagination and no automatic refreshing of the news feed etc. But I guess I'm not the type of user they are chasing .. and I find myself organically being less and less interested in engaging as a result. I don't need to break social media addiction ... the social media "platforms" do that for me with their "features."
  - worik 2y ago
    > I know I'm old but all I want in any "news feed" is to show me latest posts from people/pages I follow directly in chronological order It sou ds to me that you want Mastodon
  - jweir 2y ago
    That is the "For You". I have a comment on this story about how you can remove it, and there are plugins out there that remove it. Once it is gone Twitter becomes usable again – you only see who you follow and ads. Otherwise it is a really awful experience.
bee_rider 2y ago
It sounds like we’re converging on the same Twitter workflow over time, which is to just never use it at all, haha.
- nkozyra 2y ago
  Of all the social media platforms, Twitter used to be the one that was least likely to make me angry or otherwise produce an unpleasant reaction. I suspect that generally coincided with the ability to use it briefly and then walk away for a day or more. Which ... isn't good for ad impressions, and I suspect the main driver for engagement hooking. A lot of people don't have the ability to reject this, it seems, and it obviously has a real mental health toll. The second I find myself feeling "bad" when using an app I just close it down for weeks at a time. No place has that been more true or for longer than the current iteration of Twitter. Fundamentally ad-driven social media works best financially when they have you there mashing buttons and clicking posts.
- chipdart 2y ago
  > It sounds like we’re converging on the same Twitter workflow over time, which is to just never use it at all, haha. True, it boggles the mind the extents to which some people twist and turn to salvage the usability of a system that's compromised and managed so that it actively works against your best interests. It's like enumerating a list of pro tips on what sprinkles to pour over shit sandwiches to make them less revolting. No, sprinkles are not a solution. The solution is to not eat shit sandwiches.

sroussey 2y ago

I have an extension that removes twitter blue posts and other advertisements.

gspencley 2y ago
I've tried to use Twitter on multiple occasions over the years. The thing that really annoyed me the last time I gave it a go (and once again ultimately decided there was nothing of value to be found there) was that it would show me posts from pages that I don't follow, but that people I follow follow. That drives me absolutely crazy because that was one way that political crap that I didn't want got shown to me. Also, this is shocking I know, but I don't agree with or like everything that people I know and/or follow think or like. So a lot of these posts were from pages that I am already familiar with, have already decided I don't like and want to not follow, and yet it STILL gets shoved in my face because people & pages I follow are into something that they are objectively wrong to be into and should thus rethink every life decision they ever made over the years that helped to drive them towards being interested in such garbage. I know I'm old but all I want in any "news feed" is to show me latest posts from people/pages I follow directly in chronological order with pagination and no automatic refreshing of the news feed etc. But I guess I'm not the type of user they are chasing .. and I find myself organically being less and less interested in engaging as a result. I don't need to break social media addiction ... the social media "platforms" do that for me with their "features."
- worik 2y ago
  > I know I'm old but all I want in any "news feed" is to show me latest posts from people/pages I follow directly in chronological order It sou ds to me that you want Mastodon
- jweir 2y ago
  That is the "For You". I have a comment on this story about how you can remove it, and there are plugins out there that remove it. Once it is gone Twitter becomes usable again – you only see who you follow and ads. Otherwise it is a really awful experience.

bee_rider 2y ago

It sounds like we’re converging on the same Twitter workflow over time, which is to just never use it at all, haha.

nkozyra 2y ago
Of all the social media platforms, Twitter used to be the one that was least likely to make me angry or otherwise produce an unpleasant reaction. I suspect that generally coincided with the ability to use it briefly and then walk away for a day or more. Which ... isn't good for ad impressions, and I suspect the main driver for engagement hooking. A lot of people don't have the ability to reject this, it seems, and it obviously has a real mental health toll. The second I find myself feeling "bad" when using an app I just close it down for weeks at a time. No place has that been more true or for longer than the current iteration of Twitter. Fundamentally ad-driven social media works best financially when they have you there mashing buttons and clicking posts.
chipdart 2y ago
> It sounds like we’re converging on the same Twitter workflow over time, which is to just never use it at all, haha. True, it boggles the mind the extents to which some people twist and turn to salvage the usability of a system that's compromised and managed so that it actively works against your best interests. It's like enumerating a list of pro tips on what sprinkles to pour over shit sandwiches to make them less revolting. No, sprinkles are not a solution. The solution is to not eat shit sandwiches.