Nice! I use ReVanced to mod apps to do this. https://revanced.app/patches?pkg=com.google.android.youtube
Though I've been trying to avoid using apps without source code nowadays precisely because of things like this. Mods can break.
Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
231–240 of 322 posts
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#232So I only use Instagram for the DMs with friends. I don’t follow anyone at all, so my feed should be empty. For years it was. Then at some point Instagram decided I must not know what I want, they should show me recommended posts from random accounts. There’s a setting to turn this off … but instead of being a normal toggle I can only “snooze” the posts for 30 days. 30 days of peace and then the spam comes back. No m…
It’s not nice to subject your friends’ private communications to ad tech surveillance.
I deleted my Instagram account, now my friends and I message on other (end to end encrypted) platforms that don’t subject us to censorship and spying.
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#233Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nicotine is not very addictive. Cigarettes is about the physical addiction.
Well this half true at best. There is the additional addiction of the physical action just like addicts can get addicted to the act of using a needle, but this is in addition to the severely addicting nature of the substance itself. Any drug that affects dopamine has the potential to be highly addictive. Nicotine is one such drug.
I guess your comment is case in point. People still don't understand psychological addiction. Yes, nicotine is addictive, but it's a small component of cigarette addiction. If it was just about that then patches would be 100% effective (in reality their success rate is dismal) and people who never smoked would use patches to get a "hit".
So I guess you could think of it the other way around. If you can believe scrolling is addictive then you should also be able to believe that putting a stick of burning plant matter in your mouth is addictive. Once you open your mind to the reality of psychological addiction you'll see it everywhere.
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#234So I only use Instagram for the DMs with friends. I don’t follow anyone at all, so my feed should be empty. For years it was. Then at some point Instagram decided I must not know what I want, they should show me recommended posts from random accounts. There’s a setting to turn this off … but instead of being a normal toggle I can only “snooze” the posts for 30 days. 30 days of peace and then the spam comes back. No m…
While I do get the frustration, you cannot really complain if you don't use Instagram for its main feature...
You can use an application like Franz or Beeper to have ONLY the chats and nothing else.
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#235So I only use Instagram for the DMs with friends. I don’t follow anyone at all, so my feed should be empty. For years it was. Then at some point Instagram decided I must not know what I want, they should show me recommended posts from random accounts. There’s a setting to turn this off … but instead of being a normal toggle I can only “snooze” the posts for 30 days. 30 days of peace and then the spam comes back. No m…
It’s not nice to subject your friends’ private communications to ad tech surveillance. I deleted my Instagram account, now my friends and I message on other (end to end encrypted) platforms that don’t subject us to censorship and spying.
Sometimes you have to choose between not talking to someone and talking to them on such a platform. For friends, sure, just says that you want to switch to something e2e. But for people you don't really know that well it's kind of unreasonable to expect them to switch for you. LinkedIn is a good example, I don't like using the platform but I also have no interest in adding loads of random old colleages I might talk to occasionally to any e2e platform I use.
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#236I setup a self-hosted FreshRSS + extensions for this very purpose. With a little effort, I can even pull in social media feeds and YouTube subscriptions. Now I have a very plain (but highly functional) UI with a chronological list of the sources I wish to follow. No recommendations, no algorithms, no infinite anything. For discovery, I can now go elsewhere and look for new content with intention, even if facilitated…
I'm very curious how you manage to pull in social feeds-- there are many billions of dollars working against your accessing social media posts that haven't been dipped in digital crack. As far as I can tell, the API's that are available are really limited, as a result.
Maybe RSSHub? https://github.com/DIYgod/RSSHub
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#237Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is it more surprising that scrolling is addictive versus, say, putting a stick of combusting plant matter in your mouth and inhaling the smoke?
Probably because scrolling feels harmless, while smoking never really did. The surprise is in the mismatch.
On the contrary, smoking was not only seen as harmless but actually good for you and encouraged!
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#238So I only use Instagram for the DMs with friends. I don’t follow anyone at all, so my feed should be empty. For years it was. Then at some point Instagram decided I must not know what I want, they should show me recommended posts from random accounts. There’s a setting to turn this off … but instead of being a normal toggle I can only “snooze” the posts for 30 days. 30 days of peace and then the spam comes back. No m…
Dude if you only want to use insta for dms, try bleeper. I swear, most of my school friends only use / are active on insta and I never used insta because I Hated reels / insta in general (my personal opinion, never found it appealing)
So my friend suggested me to use bleeper, I had heard of it ofc but I mean I always thought eh it would be too much of an hassle, then when my friend did it and said its easy so I actually downloaded bleeper created an insta with a password on private incognito and then just pasted the password to my phone's bleeper in insta and then gave it to friend and boom I am now in insta dms without using insta.
And its all free. and they even run on matrix protocol and are pushing to be even more self hosted (ie. currently the account gets in their server, (i think) afterwards, it would be on your local device)
Seriously man, I think I am sort of a shill of bleeper even though they don't even know who I am or I have an incentive to, but I genuinely like their product. I genuinely hope that they don't ever enshitten it man. Bleeper team if you are reading this, that's my only request, don't add power creep, keep on focusing on local as you are doing right now and just don't ever enshitten your product.
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#239So I only use Instagram for the DMs with friends. I don’t follow anyone at all, so my feed should be empty. For years it was. Then at some point Instagram decided I must not know what I want, they should show me recommended posts from random accounts. There’s a setting to turn this off … but instead of being a normal toggle I can only “snooze” the posts for 30 days. 30 days of peace and then the spam comes back. No m…
It’s like X reverting to “For you” from “Following” no matter how intently you ask them to show less often. It’s like X telling you - “don’t ever install our app, it’ll be worse”.
By the way, Meta then must add a paid plan “Messaging Only” mode for Instagram :)
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#240Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s not nice to subject your friends’ private communications to ad tech surveillance. I deleted my Instagram account, now my friends and I message on other (end to end encrypted) platforms that don’t subject us to censorship and spying.
Sometimes you have to choose between not talking to someone and talking to them on such a platform. For friends, sure, just says that you want to switch to something e2e. But for people you don't really know that well it's kind of unreasonable to expect them to switch for you. LinkedIn is a good example, I don't like using the platform but I also have no interest in adding loads of random old colleages I might talk t…
That is so real man. I was a massive push in pushing everyone to use signal but I could only convince 2-3 of my friends and literally now there is only 1 single friend of mine who is on signal..
Whereas on insta dm, literally all of my friends are there, mostly 24x7 active. I just used bleeper to sometimes interact with them. I think it made my mental health definitely more saner/net gain
I care about my privacy enough but I can't have it make me lonely. I hate meta with my guts but the sacrifice that I found was using bleeper or something that doesn't have anything extra of insta related except just chats
Sometimes Sacrifices must be made